Different Numbers 1: Countdown
by Higuchimon
Summary: [au: soulmate counters] In this world, a counter on one's arm marks the time until soulmates meet one another for the first time. Nasch and Durbe have met one another for the first time many times.
1. First-1

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Story:** Countdown: Chapter 1: First-1  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,683||story: 1,683  
 **Genre:** Romance|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Diversity Challenge, J14, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Pairing Diversity Challenge, 09, eternal; Catch the Barian Emperors: Nasch  
 **Summary:** In this world, a counter on one's arm marks the time until soulmates meet one another for the first time. Nasch and Durbe have met one another for the first time many times.

* * *

Thunder rolled from one side of the dark gray sky to the other, blue-white claws of lightning slashing in its wake. Old legends said that demons rode the stormwinds, cackling and seeking to seize ships and drag them down to the deepest depths of the oceans, and when the weather howled like this, the oldest sailors and the youngest alike wondered if it might not be true.

Prince Nasch didn't give the weather a single moment's thought, no matter how loudly the wind howled or the thunder crashed. He sat in the elegant chair provided for him and watched as the line of people moved slowly past him, each of them holding out their left arms, eyes bright with hope that died when he barely bothered to look up from his own.

 _Another ten minutes._ He glanced for a moment toward the end of the line. As slowly as they were moving, he thought by the time the counter ran down, they would barely have reached the midway point. He couldn't even _see_ the midway point from here. So he couldn't see if there was anyone there who caught his attention for longer than the time it took to recognize that he had no interest in them.

People kept on going by, everyone checking their counter against his own. He didn't know why; it would've made more sense, in his opinion, to just let everyone mingle around and he'd find whoever had his matching counter the way everyone else with one did, by just bumping into them. That's what would have to happen anyway. They wouldn't have to put up with this boring line, where everyone's counters were so close to being in sync with his, but not actually there. He suspected most of them had better odds of finding their soulmate with one of the other guests than with him anyway.

His father had insisted that this was just a way to meet everyone who stood a chance of being that one person for him regardless. That conversation would never leave his mind.

"No one knows what kind of a person their soulmate will be, or what relationship you'll have with them," the king reminded him. As he had several, several times during the course of his life. "It may be romantic, it may be your truest friend, or something else altogether. You can still make a match from someone you meet at this party, even if they're not your soulmate. But you have to _meet_ them."

So here he was, stuck in this chair, bored out of his mind, nodding politely without even hearing the names of his quasi-suitors most of the time. The storm raged on outside, to the point that some of the more recent arrivals came in drenched to the bone, their fine attire not nearly as fine as it had been when they left their homes.

 _It would be a lot more interesting out there than in here._ He wondered if Merag had slipped away during all the chaos of the party preparations to enjoy a quick dose of rain on her skin. They'd done that sort of thing together before. He would've done it now, if not for the party.

The party. Of course. Tonight it made him more miserable than the worst of the storm ever could have.

He peeked at his counter again. Only a handful of minutes left to go and still no one had so much as sounded interesting enough to spend two minutes with, let alone anything longer.

Noise came from one side of the room and he glanced that way, wondering if a couple of the guests had gotten into some kind of argument. No one but the king's warriors were to bear weapons in this room, but that didn't mean they couldn't – and wouldn't – yell at one another, shake their fists in each other's faces, and in general be a lot more interesting than staring at the endless line of countdown numbers.

He could see his father now, but the king didn't look as if he were on his way to split up some kind of argument. Instead, he looked worried about something else altogether, listening to one of the outer guardsmen report about something.

Nasch had no idea of what was being said, but before he could even consider what to do about it, thunder roared and lightning crashed, and half a dozen breaths later, as everyone stared out the wide windows, Nasch _did_ see something: something falling.

"What is that?" The question arose from every corner of the room, but Nasch found himself pulled closer to the window, ignoring all of the murmurs as he did so. He could already hear his father calling to him, but that didn't seem to matter at the moment. Finding out what that was out there did.

"Highness." One of the guards rested a hand on his shoulder. "You should return to your seat. We will handle whatever demon has fallen from the sky."

Nasch shook his head without a moment's hesitation. "Demons don't fall out of the sky. There are no such things as storm demons anyway. But I'm going to find out what that _is_."

He didn't wait another moment, but darted toward the nearest door he knew would lead outside. The rain was too thick, the night too dark for him to have seen exactly where the creature landed, whatever it was, but he didn't think he'd need his eyes for this. Something else guided him, a growing warmth on his arm that he had been told would happen. It matched the growing excitement in his heart as he ducked his head under the pouring rain, barely able to see two steps in front of himself.

No one followed him. He didn't know if that was because they couldn't see him in the night, or because his father might've guessed what was going on. It didn't matter.

The warmth of his counter couldn't act like a compass. All it did was warm his arm, which he didn't complain about in the chill weather. His countdown ended in the late storm season, when many of the rains were only not snow by the skin of their metaphorical teeth. He slipped on grass, skidded over rocks, and searched for anything that could be that glimmering fallen creature.

 _It was white. I saw that much._ He'd only had a quick look, but that much he knew.

There! Ahead of him, half-hidden in brush! A large pile of white, streaked with pale red and dark brown. Blood and mud, he realized, his heart squeezing in his throat. They couldn't die, not now, not before he _knew_.

Whatever it was moved a little, a soft cry of pain just audible under yet another growl of thunder. Nasch hurried closer, reaching out to touch what turned out to be a pile of feathers.

 _What?_ He moved closer, rubbing water out of his eyes with his other hand, and trying to get a clear view of what was there. The feathers moved, revealing themselves to be attached to a broad wing, and the wing moved back to reveal battered armor and a head of fluffy hair.

 _ **What?**_ Nasch had no idea of what was going on at the moment, only that his arm pulsed with warmth and he reached out for a moment with the intent of lifting the stranger's chin.

Then he pulled himself back, eyes widening as he saw the numbers on his arm cycling down to zero. _I can't touch him! Not now!_ Doing so would be an acceptance of the bond between them, and whatever else this stranger from the skies was, he was Nasch's soulmate. The warmth, the numbers, it could mean nothing else.

All he needed was to see the other's face, to talk to him...but he would not force an acceptance of the bond. His father had taught him that, too.

"When you meet your soulmate, you should wait until you're both ready before you touch skin to skin. Accepting the bond is a commitment to work things out in whatever way they will work out and while it's not a marriage, it's best to treat it much the same: with both people agreeing to it."

Nasch started to turn around, only to find a small group of guards already there, his father at the head of them. They were just as drenched as he was, and as the stranger was. Nasch drew himself up as tall as he could be.

"Father, let's take him – them – inside." He managed a smile. For the first time since realizing that his countdown time wasn't years or months away, but weeks and then days and then _now_ , he actually could not wait to meet this person when they were awake and healed. Where was he from? What about his counter? How did he feel about it?

He took another look over his shoulder as he heard movements, and his eyes widened. Now he could clearly see what was there. It hadn't mattered before; he'd been too surprised by the realization that this really was his soulmate. And this gave rise to yet another question.

Who was his soulmate, that he should ride a magnificent flying horse, a creature so rare that many in the kingdom insisted that they were either extinct or had never existed to begin with?

The king moved forward, gesturing to his soldiers. "You're right, son. Let's take our new guest inside."

Nasch could barely bring himself to breath as they began to gather the stranger and his steed out of the tree he'd crashed into. He turned at the touch of a familiar hand on his shoulder and saw Merag there.

"So you've met him at last." She sounded pleased for him. He shrugged it off at once.

"Something like that, at least." It wouldn't be official in his mind until the other opened his eyes and saw him as well, and they could speak to one another.

But until then, Nasch would not leave his side.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	2. First-2

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Story:** Countdown: Chapter 2: First-2  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,629||story: 3,312  
 **Genre:** Romance|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Diversity Challenge, J14, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Pairing Diversity Challenge, 09, eternal; Catch the Barian Emperors: Nasch  
 **Summary:** In this world, a counter on one's arm marks the time until soulmates meet one another for the first time. Nasch and Durbe have met one another for the first time many times.

* * *

Durbe couldn't feel the reins in his hands anymore. Tiny ice shards spattered against his cloak, so torn and ragged by now that it did nothing at all to protect him from the storm that raged above and around and below.

He wanted to get down to the ground. He and Mach would both be safer there. Right now, with the winds buffeting them in every direction _but_ down, he didn't know if they could get there in one piece or not. Lightning flashed all around them, not so much illuminating the area as it blinded him for long moments. Just when he thought he could see again, another strike arched by.

 _I should've waited._ He knew he should have, but the counter had almost finished, with only hours to go when they'd leaped up into the clouds, and he'd thought they could outrace the storm.

He should've known better. Fate was fate; he'd been told that for as long as he could remember. He'd never taken it quite the way that everyone else had told him, though.

"You don't need to go searching," his trainer told him. "When your timer runs out, you'll find your soulmate no matter what. That's what the timers mean. You don't have to look."

Durbe had never believed _that_. Just because he didn't have to didn't mean that he didn't want to. That he was just going to remain in the barracks, training like all of the other squires, and wait for whoever the other person was to come find him. If fate was fate, then he would find his soulmate no matter where he went or what he did.

So he would go and search for whoever it was, wherever they were. He didn't think that he would find them any sooner than if he hadn't, but that wasn't the point. The point was that he was looking because the world was huge and for all he knew, he would find them at the right time _because_ he was looking.

And all of that had led him right here, to where he couldn't see the ground below them and his clothes remained plastered to his body, ruined already, and something – he hadn't been able to see what – had sliced into his arm, leading to a streak of blood there and the last time that he _had_ been able to look down and see what was there, only endless ocean met his gaze.

 _What if my soulmate is a mermaid? Or a merman?_ He'd never given much thought to that, but with the ocean being all he could see for those few moments before the clouds tightened up and it was too dangerous to fly that close, it was something to think about, if only for a moment or two.

Even flying above the clouds now was dangerous; chill air bit into him and Mach trembled underneath his touch. So they skimmed along just under the clouds, and this storm had to end somewhere, didn't it? It couldn't go on forever.

He rubbed his eyes, trying to clear mud and sweat and rain out of them, and peered ahead, hoping for a few moments of clarity.

 _Not exactly clear, but… are those lights?_ He couldn't get a good enough look to be certain, but somewhere down below he could see a small spray of light glimmering against the darkness of the storm and the night. Lanterns of some kind, he guessed, because torches would not last in this weather.

He couldn't see his wrist, since his sleeve clung to it far too tightly. But a slow, rising warmth began to filter through his awareness, which could mean but one thing.

Carefully he nudged Mach toward those lights. Somewhere down there was his soulmate, and Durbe could only hope that they felt the same warmth that he did.

The closer to the ground that they drew, however, the worse the storm raged, and Durbe soon lost sight of the lights altogether. He hadn't been able to get any kind of guess on how far away they were with his one little glimpse, so he didn't even know if they'd overshot them somehow or perhaps not reached them at all when he began to hear the unmistakeable sound of wind whipping through the trees.

 _Almost to the ground._ That was enough. He couldn't take anymore and neither could Mach. He formed what he thought counted for a plan: they would land. They would find shelter. By the time the storm cleared, he would have found the one he was looking for. Everything after that could take care of itself. It would have to; he wasn't going to be in any condition to care for it for some time.

He could feel how tired Mach was just from the way the magnificent stallion – perhaps not so magnificent now splattered with mud, exhausted, and soaked as much to the bone as Durbe himself was – stumbled through the air. _Soon. A good warm stable for you, and the best groom I can find to take care of you, and the best food, too._

Perhaps his soulmate would be able to help or could do it on Durbe's behalf. Durbe couldn't believe that anyone who would be _his_ soulmate wouldn't also want to take care of Mach as much as he did.

All of that still hinged on getting down to the ground in one piece. The counter meant that they would meet at a given time. It did not guarantee that Durbe would remain alive a great deal longer than that. He refused to give _that_ any thought, mostly because he believed if he did, it would actually happen that way. He would live. He would meet his soulmate. And he would _keep on_ living.

From one side of the horizon to another there rolled a clap of thunder loud enough to split a person's mind in half. Following it half a heartbeat later was a claw of blue-white lightning that lit up the heavens. Mach screamed in terror that no creature should ever know, his legs tangling in tree branches that clung tight. Durbe shook his head, trying to clear it from the aftereffects of thunder and lighting, reaching to beat at the branches and get them off. He wanted to land in some clear area, not get hung up in a tree!

But the storm and how long he'd traveled had done much worse damage to Durbe and to Mach than either of them realized. Durbe couldn't get a good grip on the slick branches and far too soon, Mach's head hung, too tired to do much more than collapse where he was, his wings battered and folding from weariness. Durbe couldn't bring himself to move much after that, his heart pounding as much as the rain did, barely awake enough to realize that his arm warmed and the numbers were only seconds away from zero.

He thought he heard voices, but he couldn't move enough to react to them. The language wasn't his and in his exhaustion he couldn't think enough to translate it. All he could do was remain on Mach's back, fingers stuck on the reins.

His eyes cracked open just the tiniest bit when he realized one of those strange voices was too close to him by far. He didn't think the other noticed at all, but Durbe saw him, illuminated by a combination of lamplight and lightning. Surely that accounted for how beautiful the other was, that and how tired Durbe knew himself to be.

What else could account for sea-blue hair and sky-blue eyes, lit with a warm welcome that Durbe wanted to believe was for him and couldn't yet bring himself to think it was. He wanted to speak to the other and find out who he was. He couldn't even manage to form a single word of his own, no matter how hard he tried.

But he could still hear that strange language, and one voice in that language in particular rang warm against his ears. _You,_ he thought, _it's you. You're the one. You're the one I've been looking for._

And yet that one wouldn't touch him, wouldn't confirm the bond that Durbe knew was there even without seeing their counters at zero together, and Durbe could've _screamed_ with how much he wanted that. After living through that storm, after all the traveling that he'd done, the searching and the training, after hearing 'fate is fate' so much that he wanted to scream if he heard it again, to be so close and the other just didn't touch him…

 _What if..._ Even in his weariness, so close to passing out that the lights dimmed even as his new hosts worked him and Mach out of the tree and towards a place of greater light, a new thought slid into his mind. _What if his people don't like the counters?_ It happened, sometimes. He'd seen places before where people refused to acknowledge the bond, no matter what, and those who tried to affirm it ended up cast out. That poor dragon tamer…

That couldn't be it. It had to be something else, but finally, finally, it was too late for Durbe to think anything else, and he wasted the last moments of his awareness staring into those eyes, and wishing that he could at least find out the other's name.

He thought he heard someone calling and the stranger soulmate looked up at it. The word he'd heard wasn't a name he was familiar with, and he couldn't be certain it was a name at all. It could've been 'hello' or 'look here' or 'help, there's a monster attacking' for all that Durbe knew.

What could 'Nasch' mean?

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	3. First-3

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Story:** Countdown: Chapter 3: First-3  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,821||story: 5,133  
 **Genre:** Romance|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Diversity Challenge, J14, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Pairing Diversity Challenge, 09, eternal; Catch the Barian Emperors: Nasch  
 **Summary:** In this world, a counter on one's arm marks the time until soulmates meet one another for the first time. Nasch and Durbe have met one another for the first time many times.

* * *

Nasch could see the other's counter once servants washed the stranger clean and wrapped him in warm clothing. Just like his own, it had wound down to zero and changed to a deep, warm green instead of the usual dark blue. The color of a counter where the meeting had occurred but that first touch hadn't as of yet.

He'd been brought leather gloves that would protect his hands from making contact with the stranger until Nasch himself took them off. He remained by the other's side as he rested; the physicians had checked him thoroughly and assured Nasch that he would be fine.

"He's exhausted, that's all. Some food and rest will put him on his feet again soon," the head physician told him. " _You_ need to make certain that _you_ eat and rest as well. You want to be awake when he wakes up, don't you?"

Merag came in regularly to make certain that he did eat. She also took a very long look at the stranger who would be a part of her brother's life from now on and delivered her judgment in one simple word.

"Fluffy."

Nasch glowered at her the moment she said it. "Why are you calling him fluffy?"

"Have you seen his hair?" Merag's lips twitched. "I wonder what his name is."

Nasch looked back at the stranger, who'd slept almost continuously from the moment they'd found him. "So do I." He couldn't begin to list everything that he wondered about him nor how much he wanted to know it all.

"Durbe." If the two of them hadn't been silent in that same moment, they might not have heard. Now they both looked at him. His eyes weren't entirely open, but more so than they'd been before. His lips moved again. "My name...is Durbe."

Nasch tasted it on his lips as he might a rare wine he'd never known existed. "Durbe." He wanted to take the other's hand but he held himself back. Even with the gloves, he didn't want to make a move that Durbe didn't approve of. "How do you feel?"

Durbe smiled, just a little. It struck right into Nasch's heart. "Sleepy still."

"You don't have to wake up yet," Nasch assured him. "You can rest as long as you need to."

But Durbe shook his head as he began to lever himself to a sitting position. "I've been asleep enough already." The longer he spoke, the more certain of the language he seemed to be, though he still carried a faint accent in his words. "Who are you, and where am I?"

"I'm Nasch. This is my sister, Merag." Nasch gestured to her and she politely nodded. "You're in our father's kingdom."

Durbe nodded, lifting his left arm to rub at his face, then looked at the numbers there. He blinked some, then looked from one of them to the other, a question written across his features. Merag smiled before she exposed her own wrist: completely blank. She'd never borne a countdown, though no one knew why Nasch would have one and she didn't.

Nasch lifted his, though, pulling down the long glove to expose his stopped counter. Durbe drew in a breath, slowly reaching down to touch his own arm with the tips of his fingers.

"The bond?" He murmured, eyes resting now on Nasch's. "You didn't… touch?"

Nasch shook his head without a moment's hesitation. "Not without having met you. It would be … rude." He didn't think that he would've that even without his parents having drilled it int his mind.

Durbe smiled a small, sweet smile. "My name is Sir Durbe. My companion and steed is Mach. I've no family or kin, but I serve my king as well as I can, traveling to distant lands."

"I am Nasch, prince of this kingdom," Nasch replied at once, drawing himself up as tall as he could manage. "This is my twin Merag, and you may meet my parents later, when you've recovered more. I would like to meet your steed as soon as you've both recovered. You're welcome to stay here as long as you like."

Merag rolled her eyes, a warm smile twitching on the corners of them. "Did you want me to order a feast to celebrate your bonding now or did you want to wait a while longer?"

Durbe's cheeks flushed a deep red that didn't match his hair at all. Nasch glared at her, but she only grinned back at him.

"We've just met. It's far too early to even think about any kind of feasting, and I think it's only fair that we hold off on confirming the bond until after Sir Durbe is completely recovered. Do you agree, Sir Durbe?"

The knight bent his head, his flush fading a small bit. "I do indeed, Your Highness. But please, call me Durbe."

"Only if you call me Nasch," Nasch replied at once. "We're soulmates." Technically they wouldn't actually _know_ until they touched and the marks appeared afterward, but neither of them doubted at all. "I think we can be a little informal with each other."

"I'm going to go tell Mother and Father that he's awake," Merag said. "You two behave yourselves." She said it in a way that indicated she didn't think they would at all.

Silence fell after she left, the two of them staring nervously at one another and trying so hard not to. Nasch scrambled for something to say. He'd never imagined it would be so difficult once he actually met his soulmate.

"We fished you out of a tree," he said at last, and wondered a heartbeat later why he said that at all. "I think it was the storm?"

Durbe nodded, fastening his attention now on the ceiling overhead. "I was busy looking for you." He waved his left arm for emphasis. "My teacher always told me that I didn't need to, that we'd find each other anyway."

Nasch smiled. He couldn't have helped smiling even if he'd wanted to and he didn't. "My father told me the same thing. That was why we had a party last night. He found everyone he could in the kingdom who had a marker that ran out then and decided that one of them just had to be my soulmate, so I'd probably meet him – her – you -" He shook his head. "You can guess."

Durbe nodded. Yes, indeed he could.

* * *

Days passed by, each one quicker than the one before it. It didn't take more than a handful of those before Durbe found himself back on his feet. His first goal was, perhaps unsurprisingly, to find Mach in the stables and make certain of his partner's full recovery. While the stablehands weren't completely used to a flying horse, they did their best with him and Durbe found little to complain about.

His second goal was to get to know Nasch as much as he could before the inevitable time when he would have to leave. Soulmate or not, he'd sworn an oath to his king, and he would have to return home eventually. If nothing else, his king deserved to know that his wandering knight errant had indeed found the other half of his soul.

The other half of his soul and his heart as well, for the longer he spent time with Nasch, the more certain he was that this bond between them could be nothing other than that of love. He couldn't imagine a life that didn't have Nasch in it any longer. Now that they knew each other, Nasch fit into all the places in his life where Durbe hadn't ever imagined someone could fit or should fit or he needed someone there in the first place.

Nasch said nothing about how Durbe fit into him, but from the way his eyes lit up when they saw one another Durbe had a very good idea that he felt much the same way.

They still hadn't touched one another, but Durbe knew well how the heat of Nasch's body felt so close to him, vibrant and warm and so very _close_. More than anything, Durbe wanted to reach over and take Nasch into his arms, to taste the prince's lips as Nasch did his own. But he knew better than to even try.

He wished that he didn't. He wished that so very much.

Every day he and Nasch spent hours together, when the prince didn't have other duties to attend to. Nasch disposed of those as quickly as he could, so he could escort Durbe over the city and the surrounding countryside. Sometimes they rode on Mach, sometimes they didn't. Both of them exerted extra effort to make certain they didn't touch one another.

They'd learned enough of one another's customs by now to know they were close enough. Bond confirmation came only by the mutual consent of both parties involved and the color of the marks that appeared afterward revealed the type of relationship: companions, lovers, a mix of the same, sometimes others. Neither of them doubted theirs would be gold: the color of love.

They sat side by side on top of a hill that overlooked the city, ocean waves crashing in the distance. Durbe wore gloves that matched Nasch's now, so that no unintended touching could happen. He hated them. He wanted to tear them off, take Nasch into his arms, and…

"I love you," Nasch spoke without a single word of warning. He didn't look at Durbe, but kept on talking. "I've known you a month and I've known you forever and whenever you leave, I know you're going to come back to me. I love you, Durbe."

Durbe could not be surprised. He didn't want to be and he couldn't be and he stared at Nasch as if he'd never seen him before and thought he might never see him again. "I love you, too. I'll have to leave, but I'm going to come back, and hell itself couldn't stand in my way if you needed me, or if I just wanted to see you. I love you, Nasch."

He started to strip off his glove, but Nasch moved before he could, leaning in to touch his lips against Durbe's. Durbe blinked only once before he leaned into the kiss, hungry and needy and oh he had never, ever known what it was like to breathe before, not until he breathed air flavored with _Nasch_ and his arm burned in a pleasant way and he didn't care because he was kissing Nasch and Nasch was kissing back and everything was as it should be.

Later, they saw a cresting wave and a pegasus's wing on their arms, woven around with a chain of pure gold.

Later, they abandoned gloves and restraint both.

Later, Durbe did have to leave.

Later, he came back.

But all of those laters are other stories.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.

 **Note 2:** Their second meeting takes place when they are Barians.


	4. Second-1

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Story:** Countdown: Chapter 4: Second-1  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,604||story: 6,737  
 **Genre:** Romance|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Diversity Challenge, J14, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Pairing Diversity Challenge, 09, eternal; Catch the Barian Emperors: Nasch  
 **Summary:** In this world, a counter on one's arm marks the time until soulmates meet one another for the first time. Nasch and Durbe have met one another for the first time many times.

* * *

 _Always storms,_ Nasch thought, the dark red numbers on his arm almost not visible against the rich purple of his skin. He'd paid little enough attention to them since the moment he'd awakened in this world, aside from recognizing they existed at all and what they were for in the first place.

He couldn't have said who told him. Perhaps no one at all did. But he knew that when the counter reached zero, he would meet someone important to him. Not someone like Merag, who did _not_ have such a countdown on her arm. But someone special to him in an entirely different way.

The Emperor of the Barian World stared out at the clouds that rolled across the sky, crimson lightning flickering in their depths. He'd lost track of the storms that raged in this world. He had no idea if he could even tell the difference between storms and clear skies here.

He didn't think knowing such mattered, but it gave him something else to think about aside from the other issues that clawed at him. Such as where the _other_ Barian Emperors were. In the end there would be seven. That much he knew. Merag already stood by his side, sister and companion and friend and fellow warrior against all that stood against them.

Then there was Vector. Nasch preferred not to think of him at all, a slow rage seething underneath his skin whenever he did, but the gray Barian was there and just like Nasch, he had one of those counters. He knew no more about them than Nasch did, or so he said, and Nasch suspected that he told the truth.

 _If he did know something else, he'd make a point of telling me all about it, just to annoy me._ He could not remember having known Vector at any point before their arrival in Barian World, but he knew that was true regardless.

In all truth, he didn't remember anything that happened before opening his eyes to find himself in a world of scarlet storms. He knew that Merag had arrived before he did, and the moment their eyes met, he knew that she was his sister and there was no one who would be safe from his wrath if they harmed her in any way.

But so far, there were only three of them, three Emperors, in this world. There were other Barians who they all ruled over, but they did not live in the castle and were not like them.

Nasch's gaze dropped to the timer again. _Perhaps it's counting down until another one comes?_ That could be useful if he had some kind of warning for when one would arrive. Until he had some other evidence on what it could be for, then he would go with that.

Not much time remained until it wound down to zero. He still hadn't mastered exactly how to judge time here – as opposed to somewhere else, he did not know exactly where – but he thought it couldn't be that much longer. It looked much closer to zero than it had when he'd first woken up.

The next question such a thought led to was naturally _where_ the next Emperor, whomsoever it might be, would appear. He'd awakened in his resting chamber. He'd never asked where Merag woke, not finding it relevant, and the less he thought about Vector and where he rested the better.

The closer that the numbers drew down to zero, the more Nasch found himself wandering, hoping that he would find himself guided to some sort of awakening place in the castle, somewhere that wasn't someone's private quarters. There were four other sets of those, all of which looked identical to one another, and none of which seemed to call to him in any way.

So he wandered throughout the castle itself and on occasion through the area below, where those who were Barians and yet not Emperors gathered together. Different words occurred to him for that area, such as _village_ or _town_ , but the images that wanted to join with such words didn't match what he saw. No images he could recall even matched with the Barian World.

The more that he wandered, the more he began to slowly realize about the Barian World itself, as if he learned more just by walking through it. This world needed strong leaders. Anyone who could not defend themselves would not survive here. The world itself wasn't as stable as it could be. It wasn't a problem now, but perhaps one day it could be.

Nasch grew so interested in wandering and learning that he almost missed it as the counter drew down to the last few minutes. But up above, the clouds cleared for a few brief seconds and a star glowed a light shade of purple for the space of a heartbeat.

A howl that came from no throat of flesh or stone split the air apart, snatching Nasch's attention from the strange mental corridors it roamed through. He looked toward the sky and his breath caught in his throat when something brilliant arched downward.

Memories of another falling thing, hazed by time and rebirth that Nasch recalled only the vaguest bits of, flickered through his mind, passing away in moments. What mattered far more was finding whatever it was that fell, because it was _another Barian Emperor_. Inasmuch as he knew how to walk and talk and use his power, he knew this was so.

He hurried swiftly, marking when it landed by the very ground beneath them shaking, knowing when it did by the growing warmth in his arm, though he gave that little attention beyond knowing it happened.

Nasch didn't stumble as he ran. He knew that he could've teleported, but that worked best when he could either see where he was going or knew where it was, and though he _knew_ , he hadn't yet _seen_ the place. So he hurried instead, cape flapping in the wind created by his running, and saw ahead of him a shimmering blood-red crystal that hadn't been there before.

He skidded to a stop in front of it and stared. Within the crystal there rested another Barian, one that he'd never seen before. Yes. This was the one. The new Emperor.

Nasch reached out and laid one hand on the crystal. Something beat deep within and he could feel his own heart beating back. His left arm pulsed with that strange warmth once more and he glanced to see that the counter now shone a different color, all the numbers at zero.

 _I was right. This is what it meant._ He could think of nothing else.

His fingers sank into the crystal and met something solid on the other side. At first the other Barian did nothing at all. Then rock fingers flexed and wrapped around Nasch's.

He could've emerged on his own. _Vector_ had, and that was for the best, as Nasch thought now and then that if he'd had to draw Vector out, he would've just left him there for a century or so. But now he pulled his new Emperor, his new friend, out of the crystal.

The new one couldn't stand just yet. He collapsed into a heap at Nasch's feet, trembling all over, eyes turned downward, breathing in hard.

Nasch took a step back, realizing as he did that the mark on his arm didn't have that warmth anymore. Instead, something far different gleamed there. Numbers no more, but a sign of a … a wave? Was that a wave? He'd seen waves in the Sea of Ill Intent, but never one etched onto his arm before.

And the other sign was a wing. He could tell that so very clearly, because he'd seen Vector's wings. This was different, but a wing was a wing. White feathers shimmered there, enfolding the wave even as the wave crashed through it.

 _What is this?_ Nasch shook off the question and reached down with his other hand to the other.

"Welcome," he said, hoping the other had recovered enough from his arrival to hear and understand him.

The stranger drew in a long and deep breath, pressing pale hands into the ground beneath him. He reached up with one of them to take Nasch's hand.

"Where am I?" His voice sent chills of a fresh and new kind all through Nasch. This was a voice that every instinct he owned said that he knew, but he could not recognize it. Perhaps this was a thing with Barians? He'd felt the same way about Vector, but with a different edge to it.

He didn't like to think about Vector when this person stood so close to him. So he didn't. That was easy enough.

"Our world. The Barian World." Holding the stranger's hand sent more warmth through him, though not a warmth he was used to. One that he felt he could _get_ used to, though.

Slowly the other looked up, revealing eyes of a blue so deep it took Nasch's breath away entirely. Their hands rested in one another as the new arrival stood up to his full height, somewhat shorter than Nasch, but packed with strength and determination.

"I'm Nasch. Leader of the Seven Barian Emperors." He would've smiled, if he'd known what a smile was, or had the lips to do so. "Once there are seven. You're the fourth." He would introduce Vector and Merag later. First things came first.

The other nodded in acceptance, eyes flicking around the landscape, and not moving his hand out of Nasch's. "I'm Durbe."

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	5. Second-2

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Story:** Countdown: Chapter 5: Second-2  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,720||story: 8,457  
 **Genre:** Romance|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Diversity Challenge, J14, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Pairing Diversity Challenge, 09, eternal; Catch the Barian Emperors: Nasch  
 **Summary:** In this world, a counter on one's arm marks the time until soulmates meet one another for the first time. Nasch and Durbe have met one another for the first time many times.

* * *

He fell.

He should not have. But what happens isn't always what should have and the noble knight fell.

Perhaps it was easier for him than others because part of his soul already awaited him in the world of his next life. The bond that had wound them together for so long could not be severed by something as commonplace and mild as death. Instead, it tugged on the knight and wound around him, tightening around his left wrist.

If he'd had a body, there would've been a counter. If he'd had a counter, then it would've shown only a few minutes. This life was not like the life he'd had before and there would not be years of waiting. There would not be time to learn what the numbers represented and learn how others viewed this time and what to do when the numbers ran out.

There was falling. And pain. Memories of treachery, of harsh words and accusations of treachery on his own part, of his beloved steed standing between him and those he'd once called friend, and all of those faded, and the noble knight did not struggle to retain them. They hurt too much to think about and he knew those claims to be false. He had never betrayed his king. He could never betray his king. Not even for another king. Not even if that king were his soulmate.

Not when _when_ that king was his soulmate.

He fell and the numbers flickered faster than thought and he did not see them because there wasn't anything for him to see.

But even without those numbers, the part of his soul that wove around another's knew that he and that other were growing closer and closer with each passing moment.

The noble knight did not know if he screamed or if there was true pain or if it was all something coming from memories as they were tucked away in the very deepest depths of his mind. He let them go; they weren't important. Not as important as finding the source of that warmth and the call that sang in his veins along with his blood.

In between one moment and the next he slammed into something hard and something harder than what he hit rose all around him, holding him, reshaping him, remaking him from what he had been into what he would be, what would define him for the rest of time.

Stone and shadows fused into one, holding his soul in cupped hands, whispering inside of him, telling him what he needed to know. Not everything; someone else would tell him more, he knew. He could not have said how he knew, only that he _did_ , and he would understand when the time came.

He could not have said how long he remained where he was. Time didn't mean the same as it did on the other side of whatever had happened to him. But without warning, a hand burst through the crystal and brushed against his.

For a single heartbeat he wondered if this were all right. If this were something that was supposed to happen. The warmth pulsed bright and true and he decided that it had to be all right. How could anything that felt so right _not_ be right?

He didn't fight being pulled out of the crystal. Instead, he worked with whoever it was, wrapping his fingers around the hand and pushing himself up as the other pulled him out. The crystal proved no real obstacle at all, but the knight stumbled, crashing down to his knees.

He could see now. He blinked a time or two, trying to process what he saw in the first place. Red spread out in every direction except one. Very near him, close enough to touch, stood a column of deep purple. It was a leg. A very muscled, rock-like leg, with decorations of gold upon it, and a hint of something else red that fluttered in a dry breeze.

 _Cape. It's a cape. His cape._

The fallen knight still struggled to put everything together in his head. He could see his own hands now, as stone-hard as the purple king, but his were a pale lavender instead of that rich shade. Was that right? Was he meant to be like this?

Of course it was, something deep within assured him. What else could he be? What should he be?

He began to sit up, just a little, though he wasn't certain if his legs would support him. The king's hand extended down into his sight.

"Welcome," the king told him and the knight began to reach up to take the hand. It would be rude to refuse it. But he wanted to know something else as well.

"Where am I?" That question had rung in him from the moment he'd realized that he was somewhere at all. He thought he knew the answer, in the same way he knew this being was a king, but he wanted to hear it from someone else first.

"Our world. The Barian World."

Yes. That was what he'd known. Other thoughts danced behind those, but these waited their turn, waiting for him to be in a position to understand and accept it all. Now he pulled himself to his feet and turned to face his new king.

The other was a little taller than he was, and that rich purple color suited him from top to toe. The golden accoutrements accented him flawlessly, as did the mismatched – but attractively so – eyes. Strength radiated from every inch of him, to the point the knight wanted to kneel down at once to pledge his loyalty.

The king continued. "I'm Nasch. Leader of the Seven Barian Emperors." Somehow the knight knew the other smiled at him. King Nasch did it with his eyes. "Or I will be when there are seven. Right now, you're the fourth."

There was a request for his name implicit in those words and the knight groped around inside of his own mind for how to answer it. An Emperor? Him? No, he wasn't a leader. He was a servant, a knight, pledged to his king.

His king who wasn't here. The king who _was_ here was the King of the Barians, just as he was a Barian. The connection was simple in his mind, now that he'd considered it.

"I'm Durbe." He faced Nasch head-on. "And I will serve you, my king."

Their hands hadn't dropped apart yet. Durbe could not think of a reason why they should. His gaze flickered over to them, though, and he blinked at what he saw on their arms. Carefully, curiously, he leaned over to get a better look.

"What are..." He looked toward Nasch, the king, the one who had been here longer than he had, the one who would know. "What are these marks?"

He knew them for what they were, a cresting wave and a folded feathered wing, but he didn't know what they _meant_.

Nasch shrugged. "I don't know. There was a counter there just before I pulled you out, but it turned into those." He touched the one on Durbe's wrist, much easier to see than the one on his own, the two marks wound together by a chain of gold. "We're the only ones who have these."

"Why?" Durbe wanted to know everything. Especially why it felt so good to have Nasch's fingers on him.

"I don't know. Vector has a countdown like I did, but Merag doesn't have anything. And neither of them know why the countdown exists. Existed."

Durbe made a mental note to look into this as soon as he could. It had to mean something, even if none of them knew what it meant. Surely someone somewhere knew.

Without quite realizing it, they kept looking at one another out of the corner of their eyes. Durbe could not recall anything before having arrived here and meeting Nasch and he couldn't imagine now why he would want to. Nasch was his king. More than that, Nasch was someone who shared a mark with him, and that mark had to _mean something_.

Fingers still entwined about one another, since neither one of them had yet thought anything of dropping their hands, they started back towards a castle that rose in the distance. With the same curious part of his mind that told him this was the Barian World and he was a Barian, Durbe knew this was their castle. He didn't know if he could find his way around it, but he didn't think it would take him all that long to learn.

They hadn't yet reached the gateway when an interruption turned up. Or perhaps 'dropped down' would've described it better, as Vector dropped himself from a towering spire of crystal and landed in front of them.

"What's this? Did we get a new _friend_ today?" He stared directly at Durbe, who looked back at him, a faint thread of dislike already weaving its way through him. It had nothing to do with what Vector said and everything to do with the way he said it, including the way he was looking at Nasch. Their king should be treated with respect, not half-mocked.

"Vector, this is Durbe," Nasch said, either ignoring Vector's smirk or not having seen it at all. "Durbe, this is Vector." He flicked the fingers of his free hand toward the other's wrist. "He has the counter, you see."

Vector's eyes narrowed at that as he turned his wrist up to glare at it. "So what if I do?" Then he looked back toward them and his eyes widened for a moment. "But you don't, Nasch. Not now."

"No. It changed into this after I touched Durbe," Nasch said. The way his eyes softened just at those words made Durbe's heart beat a fraction faster.

Vector tossed his head. "Well, congratulations." Raw mockery edged very word he spoke. "And good-bye." Without another word he strolled off, as if this meant absolutely nothing to him.

Nasch shook his head. "Don't take anything he says seriously. Merag and I don't."

Durbe saw no reason to argue this point. Hand in hand, the two entered the castle. They had a very long life together to get started on.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	6. Second-3

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Story:** Countdown: Chapter 6: Second-3  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch (also, Vector x Mizael/Mizael x Vector)  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,640||story: 10,097  
 **Genre:** Romance|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Diversity Challenge, J14, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Pairing Diversity Challenge, 09, eternal; Catch the Barian Emperors: Nasch  
 **Summary:** In this world, a counter on one's arm marks the time until soulmates meet one another for the first time. Nasch and Durbe have met one another for the first time many times.

* * *

Time flowed oddly in the Barian World. Most of the inhabitants ended up not paying that much attention to it at all. Unlike those of Earth, a place they slowly became aware of as the years passed by, they were not affected by age, and since that was what time seemed to do the most, it didn't make a difference if they acknowledged it or not.

What they did pay attention to was one another and how they could affect each other. Most of them did, anyway. Vector didn't care what he did to other people, or what other people did to them. Durbe, Nasch, and Merag learned to accept that about them. They had no other choice, after all. He was one of them and like it or not, they had to all work together for the greater good of the Barian World.

None of them liked it. Vector didn't like working with them, either. But they managed to get along for the most part.

Three other Barians remained to arrive, and one by one they each did. First was Alit, a short but powerful warrior who hadn't bothered waiting around for someone to pull him out of his crystal shell when he'd arrived. Instead, he'd punched his way out of it and went looking around for anyone who could give him a good sparring match.

He bore counters as well: not one, but two of them, one on each arm. He knew no more about what they meant than Durbe or Nasch did and cared even less. What he wanted was a good fight and that was it.

Next came Gilag, who also bore a counter, though just one of them. He and Alit became good friends nearly at once, though their bond wasn't the kind that Durbe and Nasch had, nor did it have the same quasi-mystical quality that the two of them shared.

So far as Durbe could tell, none of the others had anything like what he and Nasch cared, and he didn't like to admit it, but he kind of liked that. To share something special just with Nasch. It seemed _right_. It wasn't at all like the bond Nasch and Merag shared.

Nor was it like the bond that Vector and the last of the Barian Emperors shared when he arrived. _That_ was something special on a different level altogether.

All six of the Emperors stood in Nasch's throne room, discussing some trifle that Durbe didn't remember at all when it came up later. None of them could, in fact. Whatever it had been, it completely paled in the face of Mizael's arrival.

Like all of them, he appeared first as a shooting star across the horizon, crashing into the ground and rising up bound in crystal. He arrived fairly close to the palace itself, and much like Alit, broke his own way out, and guided by whatever it was that wove itself into a Barian's mind, made his way there.

"Well, if you're asking me, then I think -" Vector broke off in the middle of whatever he was saying, staring down at his wrist, then upward, looking toward the door just as someone stepped inside of it.

Durbe didn't remember their topic of discussion at all but he remembered being very grateful for whatever or whoever it was that silenced Vector that day. Then he got his first glimpse of Mizael.

Tall and strong and as golden as the sun they didn't properly remember anymore, he stood there looking from one to the other of them. Then he looked down at his arm, where a counter slowly began to run down, leaving only seconds to go.

He looked back up at them, eyes going from one to the other once more. This time he looked a little more closely at their arms, and his gaze finally came to rest on Vector.

"And you would be?" The new arrival asked, arms crossed now over his chest, head tilted back, looking at the gray Barian.

"Having the worst day of my life that I can remember," Vector replied at once, looking at his counter as it ran down to zero. "What about you?"

"I like to think I've had better, if only because I can't imagine anything worse than being soulmates to someone who can't even answer correctly when someone wants to know his name."

Vector stared at the stranger, something that might well have been a smirk flickering through his eyes. "Soulmate? What kind of nonsense are you spouting about? And if you want my name, then give me yours first. You _are_ the newbie around here and I've been here since before almost _everyone_."

Someone cleared her throat behind him and he waved one hand dismissively in her direction. "I said almost everyone, Merag."

"Soulmates." The golden Barian looked at them all one more time. "You have the counters, you two have the marks, and you don't know?" His gaze rested now on Durbe and Nasch. Nasch rose from his throne and took two steps forward.

"Tell us your name and what you know about these things."

Anyone could refuse Vector and be drawn into a game of baiting words with him. _No one_ refused Nasch when he wished to know something.

"Mizael. These are a countdown to when one person meets someone who will be vital to their life. It can be romantic love or not. When soulmates touch one another for the first time, their counters become marks, and the chain binding the marks together shows what kind of soulmate they are."

Durbe and Nasch looked at their own bound marks, then to Mizael. He took another look and nodded. "Your bond is the gold chain: that of lovers."

Everyone tried to ignore Merag's soft chuckle, but Nasch couldn't shake her words from his mind. "How convenient that his quarters are so close to yours, dear brother."

Nasch at least put his thoughts more toward what else was going on here. "You claim that Vector is your soulmate?" Faint tinges of sympathy wrapped around his voice.

"Our counters have stopped together," Mizael said, taking firm strides toward Vector. He didn't look especially thrilled as he looked the other up and down. "But the final tell is in the touch. If two whose counters have stopped touch and they _aren't_ soulmates, the marks don't appear."

Vector pulled away from him, glaring. "What makes you think I'd even want to be your 'soulmate'? You think you deserve someone like _me_?"

"I think I want to get it over with so we know," Mizael replied tartly, blue eyes flashing with annoyance. "I hope it isn't. I've known you five minutes and I don't like you."

Alit snorted. "He just gets worse the longer you do know him. Hey, what does it mean that I've got two?" He raised his arms, looking at his counters, which weren't even in sync with one another. Mizael offered a cursory glance.

"You have two soulmates. They might be soulmated to each other as well, or they might not. You won't know until you've all three met each other and seen the marks."

He turned back to Vector, who looked about as ready to fly away as Durbe had ever seen him look. If Mizael had possessed lips, Durbe didn't doubt they would be curled now at the thought of touching Vector.

Vector raised one hand but not to accept a touch. Instead he started to swing his fist, only for Mizael to catch it in one hand.

"I want to _know_ ," he said bluntly. "If it's not you, I can go ahead and find whoever it is."

Vector began to pull his hand back, but it was too late. Already the marks showed on their wrists: one dragon's wing, golden as the sun, embracing one pale gray wing, the mirror of which could be seen on Vector's shoulders.

Gilag muttered something that sounded like commiseration, while Alit was far more vocal about his reaction. "As soon as you're settled in, there's a bar I know about that I'm going to introduce you to."

The glare Mizael sent to him was no less furious than the one Vector turned on Mizael himself. Without another word, Vector stalked out of the throne room, holding his arm away from himself as if he wished to ignore it's very existence.

Mizael didn't even look at him. Durbe took a step forward. "Welcome to the Barian World, Mizael." His gaze softened a little. "And now we are seven."

Their latest addition didn't appear all that thrilled by the announcement. Durbe couldn't blame him at all. If he'd been bound to Vector instead of Nasch… it didn't bear thinking about.

Mizael stalked off in search of his own quarters, while Alit and Gilag wandered away, most likely to gossip, visit the bar, and spar, or whatever else it was they did in their spare time. Merag gave Durbe and Nasch an arch look and went off to deal with her own amusements.

Which left the two of them looking a trifle awkwardly at one another. Nasch finally reached out to rest a hand on Durbe's shoulder. "There's no one I'd rather be with forever than you," the king murmured.

Durbe reached up to touch his king's hand with his own. From the moment he'd seen Nasch, he'd known that he wanted to be with him forever. He couldn't imagine ever being with anyone else, in any kind of way. He didn't know if they were soulmates because of that desire or if the desire came from being soulmates. Mizael's explanation hadn't really explained nearly enough. But he also knew that right now, he didn't care.

"And we will be," Durbe replied. Whatever else fate slung at them, they could take it, together.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.

 **Second Note:** Their third meeting will be at Sargasso. As for this... I needed them to know what soulmates were and since Don Thousand's been screwing around with their memories, Mizael was my best choice for this happening. Also, Alit's two soulmates will be revealed... eventually. But bonus points if you can guess either of them!


	7. Third-1

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Story:** Countdown: Chapter 7: Third-1  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,647||story: 11,744  
 **Genre:** Romance|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Diversity Challenge, J14, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Pairing Diversity Challenge, 09, eternal; Catch the Barian Emperors: Nasch  
 **Summary:** In this world, a counter on one's arm marks the time until soulmates meet one another for the first time. Nasch and Durbe have met one another for the first time many times.

* * *

Shark didn't like this. Something rang wrong about the whole situation and he couldn't put it into words, other than 'my counter is about to run out and it probably will by the time we get there, and we're going to be meeting at least one Barian, and I have no idea of what that could mean'.

Well, those were words, but they weren't ones that he wanted to use to anyone else, especially Yuuma. Yuuma wouldn't understand. Sure, he had issues with his own soulmates, but this was something else altogether.

He glanced at the countdown again, nervous and refusing to show it. They would be there soon. Too soon.

His counter had always been a little strange, as had Rio's. Neither one of them had been born with them, and that was strange enough all by itself. They'd appeared when they were young, after the accident.

Shark's shoulders tensed just at the thought of it. He didn't like remembering that and usually managed to keep it out of his mind without a great deal of trouble. Ever since the counters appeared, though, they'd acted just like any other counter, quietly ticking down the years and months until that fateful meeting.

In all fairness, he'd been very glad that it wasn't Yuuma or Kaito or anyone he knew. He didn't want to put any of them through the nightmare that was knowing him more than they already put themselves through. Yuuma would've insisted on involving himself even more in Shark's life, and Kaito… Kaito had enough problems with his being V in the first place.

He ran his hands over the numbers a bit absently. It had to be a Barian. That was the only thing that made any sense, because why would it be so close to being finished when they were heading right into the Barian World?

The thought of somehow being soulmated to a Barian, to one of those vile things trying to take over their world, sent a surge of revulsion all through him. He wasn't going to let whoever it was influence him in any kind of a way. He was _Kamishiro Ryouga_ , he was _Shark_ , no one told him what to do! If he hadn't bowed down to one of the most powerful Numbers, then he most certainly wasn't going to submit to a set of supernatural numbers that wanted to direct his love life for him.

That didn't stop the _worry_ though, or the sick nausea that rolled through him at the thought. All fear, all anticipation, that was what it was. He could tell himself that a thousand times and it didn't do a single thing to alleviate any of it. Only one thing would: knowing exactly who this soulmate of his was and what they were like.

This couldn't have happened to Rio, of course. No, she'd safely _found_ her soulmate, and even now she and Kotori were curled up together, watching the scenery – such as it was – go by. She didn't have a single thing to worry about when it came to _her_ counter, now replaced by a bird's feather and a snowflake, tied together by a golden chain.

He really didn't think about the golden chain. If he didn't want to think about his own love life being ruled by the countdown, then he even less wanted to think about what his sister did or would do with her soulmate. Let them have their privacy.

 _I should probably get some soundproofing done at home._ They were getting older, after all. They would need more privacy than they'd had in the past.

She would smirk at him. He knew it. But he'd do it anyway. And she really wouldn't argue that much, because she wouldn't want to hear him anymore than he wanted to hear her.

 _Did not want to think that,_ Shark reminded himself. No Barians, not now, not ever.

Unfortunately, the Barians were much closer than Shark would've wanted them to be and before all that much longer, he stood across from one. What worried him most of all wasn't that Yuuma faced Vector – he knew quite well that Yuuma would win – or that Kaito faced Mizael – let them fight over whatever it was they were fighting over.

What worried him was that the counter on his arm had fewer than five seconds to go and a warmth he'd never felt before rose up through his arm and the other one was taking off his hood and something in a part of himself he'd never know before stuttered and shook and his counter hit zero…

"I'm Durbe," the gray Barian said, politely inclining his head. His gaze moved from Shark to around the area, a slight crease between his eyes that made Shark wonder what was bothering him.

"You think I care who you are?" Shark bit off the words. "If we're dueling, let's duel!"

Shark thought the other said something else, but too low for him to hear. If he'd cared about it at all, he would've asked what it was. He wanted to have this duel and find out who the other person with the finished counter was, that was it.

But with each passing moment, the dreadful idea that _Durbe_ was the other one, that _Durbe_ was the one that the universe in general wanted him to think was his soulmate grew on him.

He swallowed mentally. This was not going well. Not the duel; he had no worries about that at all, no matter what the life points and card situation looked like. But the way his arm warmed and the way Durbe's attention moved back and forth, going to his own arm and then back to Shark over and over…

Finally he couldn't take it anymore. This had to end somehow. He'd finish the duel soon enough.

"You've got it too, don't you? Your counter hit zero when I got here." He threw his own arm to one side, showing the glimmering numbers there. "Just like _mine_ did."

Durbe did not have a mouth to open but all the same Shark believed he'd been about to say something else when he did that. He looked from the counter on his arm – which Shark could now see was at zero as well – to Shark himself. When he spoke, his voice held a level of rage that Shark hadn't ever thought someone could have and not actually be going for someone's throat.

" _No_. You're not him. It's not possible. Where is he?"

Shark blinked a few times, not at all certain of what Durbe was talking about. This had taken a turn that he hadn't expected at all. "Who?"

"My _soulmate_!" Durbe spat the word out impressively well for someone who didn't have a mouth. "Nasch! Where is he?"

Shark shook his head. This had to be the worst moment of his life and there had been a lot of contenders. "I don't know who you're talking about. But your counter and my counter are both stopped." He didn't want to suggest touching. He didn't want to feel cold rock underneath his fingers or touching him as well.

Maybe Durbe was right somehow. Maybe there was someone else around who had a counter that also ended at this moment and that was this 'Nasch' person. He couldn't help but cast a look around on his own. But no one came out of hiding.

"I don't care. You are not my soulmate." Durbe bit the words off with frozen hatred. "You are not Nasch."

"Never said I was," Shark said with a shrug. He'd never heard of two counters stopping at the same time and someone in the area wasn't soulmate to one of the people involved. No one from the ship seemed to be ready to gasp that their counter had stopped and he knew for a fact that none of theirs were close to stopping anyway. It was a thing that one got to know after knowing people a while.

Sorting all of this out was going to take a lot more time than they had, especially since Vector decided it was a very good time and place to _really_ start messing with Yuuma's head, and getting _that_ settled before the world came to an explosive and messy end was far more important than settling love lives, no matter how destined or not they appeared to be.

Shark did not look at Durbe. He did not want to see Durbe. He didn't want to think about at him at all. What he wanted to do was make certain Yuuma got through this without losing his mind and without losing his bond to Astral. For the most part, he knew Yuuma would have to make it through on his own, and the mind games Vector took such _pleasure_ in playing weren't going to help at all.

He picked up somewhere along the way that Vector had a soulmate of his own, Kaito's opponent Mizael, and he couldn't help but feel somewhat sorry for the golden Barian. Some people just had no luck at all.

It would take time to even begin to heal the wounds caused by this little trip to Sargasso. Shark had no idea of where to even begin. He didn't want to think about the pain he'd seen in Durbe's eyes or how much that pain dug into parts of himself that he didn't want to even think existed.

He really didn't want to think about how much those parts of him wanted to find a way back there, to try to talk to Durbe and figure out what was going on and how their counters could match if they weren't soulmates. Or how they could be if Durbe already had one of his own.

Because he wasn't Nasch. He knew himself. He wasn't a Barian.

He wasn't.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	8. Third-2

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Story:** Countdown: Chapter 8: Third-2  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,647||story: 13,391  
 **Genre:** Romance|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Diversity Challenge, J14, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Pairing Diversity Challenge, 09, eternal; Catch the Barian Emperors: Nasch  
 **Summary:** In this world, a counter on one's arm marks the time until soulmates meet one another for the first time. Nasch and Durbe have met one another for the first time many times.

* * *

Durbe prided himself on not losing his temper all that easily. After all this time of not just knowing Vector but having to deal with him on a regular basis, such a trait came in handy. He didn't like his fellow Barian very much, and he didn't think the situation that he'd set up at Sargasso was the best way to handle the problem of the Astral emissary at all. The fact he'd been proven right and Astral and Yuuma only grew stronger from what he did didn't make him happy at all, though.

In point of fact, there was very little that _could_ make him happy after the events of Sargasso.

 _He's not Nasch. He can't be._ The single thought rang over and over in his head, no matter how much or how often he tried to think of something else. The counter on his arm said differently, however, resting at a perfect zero, and the way it had warmed when he'd been near that _human_. All marks of having found his soulmate and been found by him.

No. He didn't _want_ to believe it. Yet even as he denied it, other thoughts began to filter in. The way Kamishiro Ryouga held himself, with an innate nobility that rang so much of Nasch that Durbe hurt even to remember it. The way that he dueled. It wasn't Nasch's deck at all, but it was _similar_ : Nasch dueled with a deck of Water monsters, after all.

 _There's no way that it could be. Nasch was a Barian. Ryouga is a human._ How could it be? How could this happen at all?

No matter how long he lived, Durbe wouldn't forget that horrid moment when he'd realized that Nasch wasn't in the Barian World anymore. He hadn't just left for a quick trip outside of the palace – as if he would have without letting Durbe know anyway – but he'd vanished from their world entirely.

His mind provided the word Durbe tried to avoid when that thought came up: Nasch died. How he died, Durbe didn't know. No one had been around when it happened, except perhaps Merag, and she'd vanished as well. But he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Nasch died, because in that moment, the mark on his arm faded away and was replaced by a ticking counter once more.

Only that had given him hope at the time. The counter marked down years before they'd meet again, but they _would_. He held onto that, no matter how much Vector tried to insinuate it wouldn't happen, that perhaps somehow he'd changed soulmates…

 _No. Never._ He wouldn't have changed if he could. It didn't matter what kind of a person his prospective new one was. He wanted Nasch.

He loved Nasch. Loved him more than he could even think about expressing. For him, he would lead the Barians against the Astral emissary and any allies who dared to stand against them. For Nasch, he would even put up with Vector.

But now, after seeing the person who held the matching countdown…

 _He's not Nasch, but he's like Nasch._ That much Durbe would admit to himself, just that little bit. Could they be related somehow? No, that was even more ridiculous than Ryouga being Nasch in the first place. Barians and humans came from two different worlds. It could not be.

The more he worried over it – and he did that a lot – the more a strange idea began to intrude itself into his mind.

 _Nasch vanished. What if someone somehow turned him into a human? Is that possible?_ He didn't think it was, but now that he'd considered it, he couldn't get the idea of his mind at all. It would have to be a being of great power, and he didn't know of any such. Granted, he didn't think he knew of every being in the entire cosmos, but that sort of thing just couldn't happen randomly.

Would that count as death? Nasch had to have died for his counter to reset itself.

The only real way to tell, Durbe realized, was to touch Kamishiro Ryouga and see what their mark became. If it was the same as with Nasch, then…

That still wasn't something Durbe wanted. He couldn't bring himself to do it, not yet. Not now.

 _He wouldn't want it either. I know he wouldn't._ Ryouga fought alongside Yuuma and Astral. He wouldn't turn on his friends. No more than Nasch would have.

Yet another point they had in common. Durbe chuckled under his breath. For all that it seemed so unlikely, the universe did seem to point in that direction.

But it still wasn't something he felt entirely ready to try. The Barian World still needed saving. Perhaps he could make certain Kamishiro Ryouga survived all of what needed to be done for that, and then they could sort through this. Ryouga wanted the truth as much as he did; he would no more want to be soulmate to his enemy than Durbe did.

Finding out about the Legendary Numbers gave Durbe something to think about aside from the mystery of Nasch's whereabouts, even if there was a chance he'd find the true Nasch by searching for them. He hadn't told Vector or Mizael about what happened at Sargasso and found himself grateful that both of them had been too wrapped up in their own opponents to have noticed his reaction. He wouldn't have wanted to try to explain to either of them what could be going on.

Well, Mizael might listen, a little. He hated humans, but he respected Nasch, and would want him back. Vector, on the other hand...Durbe had his thoughts on that and they weren't pleasant ones.

He'd work all of it out in due time, he promised himself as he sped through the worlds. Nasch couldn't hide forever, wherever he was.

He had his lover's name on his mind so much that he didn't really find himself that surprised when it fell off his tongue when Yuuma wanted to know who he was.

 _After that hit, I'm surprised I_ _ **didn't**_ _tell him my real name,_ Durbe mused as they all headed toward the ruin that was supposed to be in the area. He glanced furtively at his human form, trying to get a feel for what he looked like. It wouldn't do to be unfamiliar with his own reflection if that should happen to come up.

Glancing at his arm told him one thing: even in this form, his counter remained at zero.

 _I can't let them see it._ There weren't that many people who went around with fully finished counters instead of their marks and while he could probably have come up with something that would distract Yuuma from it, Ryouga wouldn't be so easy to deceive.

The simplest solution was likely the best one: he fell to the rear of the group and pulled off the scarf around his neck, wrapping it around the lower part of his arm. The weather was warmer than would've made this comfortable, but it would satisfy his needs for now. If he had to, he'd claim he'd scraped himself there as well.

Of course, the universe in general _did_ seem incredibly bent on forcing him to consider Ryouga and make allowances for him in his plans, as the two of them ended up cut off from the others in the ruins. If he were being honest with himself, that was his fault, since when he'd seen the wall coming down, he'd darted at once to push Ryouga out of the way. Nasch or not Nasch, his instincts wouldn't allow the other to be hurt.

He could see Ryouga glancing at his arm once or twice and started to form a quick backstory on why he didn't have a mark but a rundown counter instead.

 _Is he naturally this suspicious or is it because of the counter?_ Durbe wondered as they made their way through the ruins. His arm remained warm, as it had since they'd met again here, but he tried not to let it show. If Ryouga felt that as well, he was just as good as Durbe at hiding it.

Finding out he could understand the story of the ruins provided a distraction as well. In the very back of his mind, he could see the events as they unfolded in the tale, though not as if it were being told to him. More as if… as if it were happening to him, but through some kind of a veil.

And then the final event occurred. The one that Durbe could not have foreseen and felt that he should have.

After all, touching didn't always happen by choice. When he was born as a Barian, he'd barely had time to realize the counter existed before Nasch's hand sealed the bond. He considered themselves lucky that the few brief brushes they'd had here hadn't been skin to skin, though some had come close indeed.

So when his hand and Kamishiro Ryouga's touched at long last, when he leaped to save the other from falling into what could be the proverbial bottomless pit, the warmth swept all through him, and he didn't have to look to see the mark returned to his arm, the wave and the wing, just as should always be.

Not only that, but he looked into sea-blue eyes, and he _knew_.

He'd found Nasch again.

Though Nasch didn't seem to be all that thrilled about having found _him_ , either.

"You are Nasch," Durbe murmured, mostly thrilled to be in his Barian form again, even in this world. He hadn't thought that could happen. But there stood Nasch next to him, his eyes full of fury and disbelief as well.

Whatever else came of this trip to the ruins, Durbe would not count it wasted.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	9. Third-3

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Story:** Countdown: Chapter 9: Third-3  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,639||story: 15,030  
 **Genre:** Romance|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Diversity Challenge, J14, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Pairing Diversity Challenge, 09, eternal; Catch the Barian Emperors: Nasch  
 **Summary:** In this world, a counter on one's arm marks the time until soulmates meet one another for the first time. Nasch and Durbe have met one another for the first time many times.

* * *

 _Where is it? Where is it?_ Durbe didn't often go into Nasch's rooms. Or he hadn't since Nasch and Merag vanished, anyway. He'd spent a few nights there, remembering what it was like to have Nasch in his arms and vice versa, but as the years slipped away, he'd found himself drawn to his own rooms more.

At least those weren't full of memories that twisted inside of him like living knives.

But now he searched, trying to find something that he hadn't seen in quite some time. He couldn't remember where it came from, only that Nasch wore it constantly, and it _had_ to be useful now.

But where? Where?

 _How did this happen, anyway? Does he know? No, he can't, he doesn't even believe he is Nasch. But if he gets his memories back, he could know then._ That was the best hope that Durbe had and every time he spied his wrist and the wave and wing woven together, the hope burned just that much brighter.

He caught a glimpse of something from the corner of one eye and darted for it. Yes! The Barian Symbol pendant, the one Nasch wore every day of life since he'd become the leader of the Barian Emperors.

He held it in his hands and stared down at it, breathing quietly. Vector had once suggested that since he was now acting as the leader of the Barians, that Durbe should wear this. Durbe hadn't even let that thought cross his mind. This was not his wear. This was his to keep, to guard, to watch over until Nasch returned, with the counter a silent promise that he _would_ return.

What would he have done if he didn't have the counter to give him that assurance? He didn't know and he cared less; it was an assurance he _did_ have.

He traced one finger over it, breathing slowly. How many times had he touched it like this, when he and Nasch lay together in one another's arms? It had always been warm then, reflecting the heat of Nasch's heart. Now that heat faded, and Durbe knew it wouldn't change until it once more hung around Nasch's neck.

 _When?_ He wanted to right away. He wanted to bring Nasch to their world and show him everything, to see how much that sparked in his mind. But would Nasch listen now? Without at least a small spark of belief, it wasn't likely. So he would have to wait. Wait until something _did_ spark that belief.

What it could be and how long it would take Durbe didn't know, but he knew how to occupy himself in the meantime: taking more visits to those ruins. He hadn't had time to freely explore them while he'd been there before, but he wanted to do it. Somewhere in there were at least some of the answers to the past he only vaguely recalled now.

 _The hero didn't go home. At least not to where he was born._ That was first and foremost in his mind. He'd gone somewhere, but that wasn't where. He just couldn't think of _where_.

And if that part of the legend had been blurred, then what was the truth? What didn't he actually know yet and how was it going to tie into Nasch? If it did at all.

That was something else. He thought it did. He was almost certain it did, even if he couldn't put his finger on why.

So he waited. So he kept the Barian Emblem safe in his own quarters, waiting for the moment to come when Kamishiro Ryouga would be ready to accept the truth of his past, and slowly piecing his own memories together, bit by tiny bit.

Even with all of that, when he found his way into _Nasch's_ own human memories, Durbe still could not quite believe what he saw in there.

 _We knew each other. We were… close._ To say the last. On the image of their past selves, he saw the same mark that now rested on his own and on Nasch's. The wing and the wave, together as they'd always been.

Other memories filtered in, sparked by this. The moment when they'd first met. Long days of getting to know one another. Then, finally, that nervous first touch, accepting the bond for the very first time, seeing their marks appear on one another.

He'd kissed Nasch's, letting his lips say what his voice could not. Nasch returned it, pulling him closer, welcoming him.

Now. Now Nasch would be able to believe, would at least have that tiny spark Durbe wanted so much for him to have, so that he could have his king back.

More than his king. His love. His lover. His soulmate. The one whose return he'd awaited for _so_ long.

He chose his moment with care. He hated interrupting Nasch's time with Merag, but she would need these memories too, to know who she was and had been and should be.

* * *

Part of him wondered if Nasch would still resist, would still deny who he was and refuse to return to where he belonged. He didn't know what he'd do in that case. He didn't want to force anything on Nasch, of all people. But they needed him so much.

So when Nasch's hand closed around the Emblem, Durbe's heart skipped a beat. He could feel the warmth rising, not just in the Emblem, but between the two of them as well. So close, so very close, and all he wanted to do was wrap his arms around Nasch and hold him until the very world ended.

Any world. All worlds.

But they both needed this, to revive the memories that they shared between them, of a time when they'd gone to war together.

Having learned already that Vector fought against them, Durbe could not be too surprised to see how the war unfolded. He didn't know how they'd all come to be Barians, but he found that didn't matter nearly as much as remembering that life did.

So many memories surged through them, not all of which they had time to examine. But in the end, they stood together, and despite the tears that it brought to Nasch's eyes, he knew where he belonged once again. Durbe, still wearing his Barian rock form, held a hand out to him.

"I still love you," he murmured. "You could fight against me for a thousand years and you will still be my king and my soulmate."

Nasch still didn't look happy about the choice he was making, but it was a choice only he could make. And it was the only choice Durbe knew he _would_ make. For all of his flaws, for all of his gruffness, for all of his fierce independence, Nasch would always do what was best for those he cared about, even if – even when – it cut him to the quick to do so.

Durbe didn't want to hurt Nasch by making this choice. But they were Barians now. They had a duty to this world, and since the friends he'd made sought to destroy their world, then this choice had to be made, even when it hurt.

"You don't have to worry about that," Nasch said at last, taking Durbe's hand in his. "You're my soulmate, Durbe. I still love you, too."

It had been far, far too long since Durbe genuinely felt Nasch's arms around him or had held Nasch in his own. It only took a small flicker of effort to resume his human form, a thing made far more possibly by Nasch's presence. He'd always made them stronger, just by existing. Now, he knew, that was how he'd been able to take his Barian form even while on Earth. Thanks to Nasch's presence there.

Slowly he brought his lips to Nasch's, touching deep and warm and loved, his heart racing to feel Nasch returning it. He'd dreamed a thousand dreams of this since that moment he'd realized Nasch and Merag weren't there anymore. He almost wondered if this were just another dream and he'd wake to find himself alone again.

"If you two don't stop that, I'm going to make you regret not stopping it," Merag said, giving them both a very annoyed look. "You'd think you hadn't seen each other in years."

"We haven't, not really," Durbe reminded her. "Not since you two vanished." He frowned for a moment, thinking back to that horrid day. "What happened then? Do you remember?"

Nasch frowned, closing his eye. Durbe wanted him to say that it had something to do with Vector. After what they'd learned had happened in the past then it wouldn't have surprised him at all. Frankly, what they learned about him made a lot of Vector's actions that much clearer. Not saner – no one would ever confuse Vector with being sane – but clearer.

Merag racked her memory as well, but both of them slowly shook their heads in the end.

"I remember falling asleep the night before, but that's it," Nasch said at last. "The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital and knowing that I was Kamishiro Ryouga."

Durbe held back a sigh. As much as he would've liked to find a way to do something about Vector, without more evidence than they had, then they had to deal with him as an ally. At least he was _useful_ instead of fighting against them now. They had a common enemy.

Though he couldn't be entirely certain that Merag would agree, not with the fire in her eyes at the very thought of him.

But for now, their leader had returned, and Durbe believed in his heart, for the first time in a long time, that they truly could and would win this war.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible. The next meeting will be after their revival.


	10. Fourth-1

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Story:** Countdown: Chapter 10: Fourth-1  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch (also some other 'ships)  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,640||story: 16,670  
 **Genre:** Romance|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Diversity Challenge, J14, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Pairing Diversity Challenge, 09, eternal; Catch the Barian Emperors: Nasch  
 **Notes:** This contains some of my headcanons about the Barians post-canon.  
 **Summary:** In this world, a counter on one's arm marks the time until soulmates meet one another for the first time. Nasch and Durbe have met one another for the first time many times.

* * *

His head hurt. More than that, everything he could think of hurt, and he suspected some of what he couldn't identify off the top of his heart hurt as well. As rebirths went, this one in Nasch's experience rated fairly low on the 'pleasant' scale. All the ones that he could remember hadn't hurt _nearly_ as much.

Slowly he blinked, trying to put everything together. How had this happened, anyway?

Oh, wait. He knew. There was only one way that it could and one person who would've done it.

That idiot.

Yuuma.

He let out a low groan and considered if it were worthwhile trying to sit up. The more he became aware of himself, the more he knew that there were other people in the area. He didn't know what the area was or who they were, but they were here and they were there.

One of them was Merag. Rio. The name didn't matter, his sister was there, and that went a long way toward improving his mood. As much as it could be improved in the first place.

He lifted one arm to rub at his face and blinked when he saw a countdown glimmering on his wrist. _Huh? Oh. Soulmate marker._ The information slotted nearly into his mind, along with memories from lifetimes before. One did not touch one's soulmate unless the agreement were mutual and considered beforehand.

That much had actually survived to the present. His last two encounters with Durbe hadn't been willing and mutual on both sides, but only out of ignorance on their parts. What they were ignorant of changed but that wasn't the point.

 _Durbe._ Something else clicked into his mind and he took a second look at the counter. Less than a minute remained. Durbe was there. He was going to meet Durbe again in only a few more seconds.

Another groan sounded, far closer to him, and now he snapped to his feet, looking around. They were there. All of them, Merag and Alit, Gilag and Mizael, and… oh, great. He'd even brought Vector back.

He needed to talk to Yuuma about _choices_. The fact Vector had been Don Thousand's pawn even longer than any of them didn't make a single bit of difference to him. He still pitied Mizael for being the one bound to him, something that hadn't changed, if the identical counters on their arms were anything to go by.

"Nasch..." Durbe's voice. His name. The first word in this new life was _his name_ , and if Nasch had ever stood a chance of resisting Durbe, that melted away with that one word.

He turned. Only a step or two away from where he himself had woken up lay the former knight, the former Barian Emperor, the current and eternal love of his every life.

Nasch took those steps and started to hold his hand out, even as the counters on their arms counted those last few seconds. Then he pulled his hand back, tense.

"Only… only when you want to," he murmured, his mind still half-fuzzy by death and rebirth, and started to pull his hand back.

Durbe looked at him, the same sort of confusion in his eyes before he looked at his wrist and saw his own counter glimmering there, down to zero once again. He blinked a few times, then started to push himself to his feet.

"We're alive," he murmured, as amazed by that fact as Nasch himself was.

"Yeah. Pretty sure we have Yuuma to thank for this." Nasch wasn't certain if 'thank' or 'blame' was the right way to put it, but it was Yuuma all the same. He didn't need to be told. He just _knew_.

The way he knew that he could still become a warrior of rock and stone if he needed to, the way his power still flowed under his veins, because he was _Nasch_ and whatever Nasch had been once, he was a Barian now, and always would be. Even the Numeron Code couldn't rewrite reality to _that_ extent.

What was different was that he, and all the others he believed, could write their own destinies now, make their own choices about how they used that power. He didn't know if the Barian _World_ still existed or not, but they could look into that once they were settled and had a better idea of what else changed.

Durbe stood on his feet now, taking careful steps, each one a little stronger than the one before it. All over the area, which Nasch didn't even recognize at the moment, the others were starting to wake up and become aware of themselves again as well.

Durbe started to say something, but Nasch hushed him with a quick shake of his head, something else having caught his attention. Mizael and Vector both were on their feet now, and slowly their eyes met. Everything remained absolutely silent for a few seconds. The five other Barians simply _watched_. Part of Nasch wished he had popcorn on hand. Mizael and Vector's meetings had always been fascinating to watch. This likely wouldn't be any different.

Vector's gaze went down to his counter, then over to Mizael's. He snorted a little. "I suppose we might as well get it over with. Again."

Mizael brushed himself off, looking around to the others before turning his gaze back to Vector. "You'll just nag me until I do if I don't."

"You know me too well." Vector shrugged and laughed. It didn't entirely sound like his usual laugh, lacking a small hint of that dark edge. It didn't sound like the one he'd used as Shingetsu, either. Nasch didn't know how to place it offhand. It almost sounded...genuine?

"Unfortunately." Mizael let out a long sigh and looked at Vector. "This still doesn't mean anything."

"Of course not. We're only soulmates, bound together throughout time and space, not even letting death part us." Vector threw back his head and laughed. This one sounded a lot more like the one Nasch was used to hearing from him. "That can't mean a single thing."

Mizael rolled his eyes. "Shut up." He reached out and grabbed hold of Vector's arm, the tension in his shoulders clearly reading that he'd rather shove his arm into a bonfire than actually touch Vector. Nasch wasn't as good at reading Vector as he was at the others, given Vector's nature of lying to everyone up to and including himself, but he thought the redhead looked a little...less annoyed than usual?

"I do wonder why those two, of all people," Merag murmured, her own fingers pressed against her counter. "I'd think someone like Yuuma would be more likely for Vector."

Nasch shrugged, eyes flicking over to Alit. "I think Alit would've broken something at the thought of having to share Yuuma with anyone else." Finding out that _Yuuma_ also had two counters and exactly who those two marked the time for had been more than a little surprising.

Durbe moved a little closer. "You're probably right. I think we might just have to trust that the universe knows what it's doing."

Nasch didn't think they had that much room to argue themselves. He looked toward Merag. "What about you?" He wasn't entirely certain of what he meant with that. How much time on her counter? What did she think of all of this? Something else entirely?

She shrugged, dropping her arm so that the counter lay hidden against her side. "I'm going to go find Kotori later. Right now, I think we should go home and get some sleep. I don't know about you, but dying takes a lot out of me."

She turned her attention toward Durbe, a thoughtful quirk to her lips. "And you two better hurry up and follow their example. You know you're going to do it. Why wait around and torment yourselves for no good reason?"

"You mean there's a good reason to torment someone?" Nasch replied with a hint of dry sarcasm.

His sister shrugged. "It depends on who it is. I can think of an option or two." Her gaze flicked back to Vector, eyes darkening some. Nasch wasn't surprised. She had never been the forgiving sort, not without some kind of huge pain involved between the offense and the forgiving. Vector had quite a lot of offenses stacked up.

He looked back at Durbe, though. They could handle Vector another day. He would always be there, like a cursed coin that one couldn't entirely get rid of.

Durbe looked back at him, and that wonderful smile of his gleamed there now. Whatever else Yuuma did, the war was over. They didn't all have to be on opposite sides anymore. There would be people who might look askance at them, but there always had been, even in his old kingdom. Some hadn't approved of their prince being attached to a foreign knight. Now he also knew that part of Durbe's troubles in his own kingdom had been because of his bond to Nasch as well.

But like with the war, all of that was over. He squared his shoulders. He hadn't liked people getting involved with him because he needed to solve his own problems. He always had. But this wasn't a problem and even if it had been, it was one Durbe shared with him, one that they could only solve together.

He held his hand out. It would still be Durbe's choice to take it. He'd made his own in offering it.

Be it flesh or rock, Durbe's hand held a special warmth to it. Nasch had noticed that many times over their lives together. As it closed around his now, he could feel the timers reshaping once more into the wing and the wave, the bond they shared reaffirmed for one more lifetime.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	11. Fourth-2

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Story:** Countdown: Chapter 11: Fourth-2  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,634||story: 18,304  
 **Genre:** Romance|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Diversity Challenge, J14, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Pairing Diversity Challenge, 09, eternal; Catch the Barian Emperors: Nasch  
 **Summary:** In this world, a counter on one's arm marks the time until soulmates meet one another for the first time. Nasch and Durbe have met one another for the first time many times

* * *

Durbe had no idea of how long he'd floated in this timeless place that was no place. What he knew was that he wasn't alone and that sooner or later, he would be reborn in the world. How could he not be, when he had been before? Perhaps not the same world he knew, but a world. Somewhere. He would find Nasch again and they would have another chance for a life without war.

He hoped, at least. He couldn't tell if he knew it or if he hoped it only, because knowing and hoping remained intertwined with one another, unable to tell one from the other and not especially inclined to try. Be it knowledge or hope, he wanted both.

It took him some time before he realized that the blue arching expanse over him was the sky. Not just any sky, not the scarlet skies of the Barian World, but the jewel bright heavens of Earth. He blinked a few times, his thoughts slowly unsticking themselves and starting to form together into something that made sense.

 _I'm alive?_ Knowing it could happen and being aware that it _had_ happened were two entirely different things. He'd expected not to come back like this, though he had expected to come back. He'd thought a full second chance, a full reincarnation, would be their fate.

Instead, he raised one hand and turned it, seeing skin and flesh and bone, and underneath, running like a current his eyes couldn't see, stone no longer cursed by Don Thousand's taint, but still strong and ready to serve.

He squeezed his fingers together and flexed them outward. He could feel the others there, each one waking up just as he was, learning that they weren't infants, that they had a true, full chance to have lives of their own choosing.

Gleaming red now caught his gaze and he looked at the countdown on his arm. Only minutes left, a small handful of time, and Durbe's heart picked up the pace. Nasch was there. Nasch survived all of this and it was going to happen again.

He could remember it all now, he slowly became aware, the memories darting and dashing about in his mind, finding new places to settle in and be comfortable. His first life, how he'd ridden through the storm to find Nasch without even knowing that was who he was looking for, only searching for the other half of his soul no matter what. How he'd fallen in battle against his brother knights, who hated that he loved a foreign king. That began to spark their fury and their jealousy, which led into so much more.

Then came his life as a Barian, when he'd freely pledged his heart and his service to Nasch, no longer a foreign king, but his king, and the bonds that tied them together only made it stronger in his opinion. He would never let that change. He would always be Nasch's, no matter what, and vice versa.

Durbe drew in a long, slow, deep breath. He lifted his eyes from the counter and looked, knowing where Nasch stood.

"Nasch." It was fitting that his first word in this new life was the one he wanted to be a part of that life.

Somehow, he failed utterly at being surprised when Nasch refused to hold his hand out right away. They'd bonded more or less by accident the last time, though neither of them regretted it once they'd known what was going on, but Nasch was far too much of a _king_ to make the same mistake twice.

In all honesty, Durbe wanted to think about it a little himself. He knew that he wanted Nasch in his life, in every life that he had, so long as that was what Nasch wanted, but a few moments to think it through wouldn't go amiss at all.

Apparently Mizael and Vector didn't quite feel the same way, given their angry looks at one another. But Durbe wasn't surprised; neither one of them had ever been that fond of the other, despite the fact he knew quite well what they tended to do with one another when no one else was around.

He'd made certain both sets of their quarters were as soundproofed as his and Nasch's were after the first time. He hadn't mentioned it to either of them, but Alit and Gilag both thanked him afterward.

 _Merag is right, though. One would think someone like Yuuma would be more to Vector's tastes._

He wouldn't go so far as to say the universe had made some kind of a mistake, but it did make him wonder. Still, it was really more Vector and Mizael's issue than his. So long as they didn't disturb his own peace of mind more than the thought of them being soulmates in the first place did, what they did or didn't do was entirely their business.

Merag, he knew, was also right about them not wasting time reaffirming their bond. It _would_ happen, as sure as night followed day. There wasn't anyone else that he could ever imagine wanting to be soulmated with. Even if they didn't have that bond to enjoy, the thought of loving anyone else but Nasch didn't cross his mind at all. It never had.

So when Nasch held his hand out a second time, Durbe didn't hesitate. There was too much to do for them to waste time. They had new lives to build here and people that they wanted to meet and needed to talk to. Why waste time fretting about a decision that had been made twice already?

Nasch's hand wasn't callused in the way it had been when they'd first met one another all those centuries earlier. Nor did it have the strength of stone that he remembered from the Barian World, despite knowing that such could be possible again.

But it was warm and it was strong and it was Nasch's hand and he pulled the other close to him, aware that the marks once more rested where they should, and he touched Nasch's lips with his own, his heartbeat pounding fast in his ears.

Nasch's arms slipped around him and he ignored Vector's snarky comments and his lips widened into a smile at the unmistakeable sound of Alit smacking the back of Vector's head and oh, but he looked forward to seeing Alit meeting Yuuma again. He'd missed their first encounter and he wanted to see if their third was who he thought it was, because that would be _interesting_ to see play out.

Merag cleared her throat, not entirely politely, but in a way that indicated she had something to say and listening to her would be a very good idea before she tested just how much of their powers that they all retained.

Merag had a very expressive way of clearing her throat.

"I know for a fact that none of you have anywhere to stay in this world, and I'm not sure if any of us can get back to the Barian World right now. So, we're going to go to our mansion and get some sleep for now. We can fix the place up later, but it's got enough rooms for all of us and most of them still have beds." She took a long look around, then pointed. "We're going that way."

Vector rested his hands on his hips and glared at her. "And what if I don't want to take advantage of your so-called hospitality, _Merag_?"

"Then sleep in an alleyway for all I care. We're offering. You do what you want. Me, I'm going to bed."

And with that, she stalked down the street the way that she'd indicated. Gilag and Alit glanced at each other, then headed on after her. Mizael gave Vector a very clear look that Durbe translated to himself as 'you are an idiot and if I ever find out who tried to tell us we were meant for each other I'm having them committed' and followed as well.

Durbe and Nasch didn't even have to think about it, much less exchange a confirming glance. All that mattered were the beds that she'd promised.

"I think we'd have to at least change the sheets," Nasch murmured as they headed along in the wake of their friends. "It's been a long time since anyone really used that place to live in."

But Durbe could tell that the thought had taken root deep inside of Nasch already. He recalled from his initial researches of Kamishiro Ryouga – would Nasch still use that name? - that he and his sister lived in an apartment building in a good part of the city, but it wasn't big enough by far to hold six or seven people. Let alone factoring in Vector's ego. But the mansion would do nicely.

"Is it soundproofed?" Not a question most might've asked, but given this group of people, Durbe thought it was one that they should get cleared out of the way as soon as they could.

"I don't think so." Nasch winced at the very thought. "But I think we have time to get it sorted out before we need to."

Durbe wasn't going to argue. He wanted to sleep in Nasch's arms and anything else could wait for better days. He thought the others would agree, especially anyone who knew how vocal Vector could get. Which was everyone.

There was still so much that needed to be done. Starting a new life always came with problems and this time they didn't have any convenient parents or authority figures to do it for them, let alone a world where they _were_ the authority figures.

But they did have each other. And that would be enough.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	12. Fourth-3

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Story:** Countdown: Chapter 12: Fourth-3  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,671||story: 19,975  
 **Genre:** Romance|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Diversity Challenge, J14, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Pairing Diversity Challenge, 09, eternal; Catch the Barian Emperors: Nasch  
 **Summary:** In this world, a counter on one's arm marks the time until soulmates meet one another for the first time. Nasch and Durbe have met one another for the first time many times.

* * *

Nasch did not want to wake up. For the life of him, he couldn't remember a reason why he should. Everything pointed at today being a day to stay right where he was and get caught up on his sleep.

He ran over a mental list of reasons that would qualify as good enough to get up, just to make certain.

The world wasn't ending. Strike that, even if it was, Kaito and Yuuma could handle it this once. But it wasn't, so that didn't matter anyway.

Vector wasn't doing anything that needed to be stopped. Given what time of day he suspected it was, Vector was probably still trying to sleep himself, and Nasch had no problems at all with letting him get his beauty rest. The guy needed it, anyway.

He wasn't hungry. He thought he might be eventually, but he wasn't _now_ , nor did his body insist on any other functions. Even if they did, he thought he could take care of them and come right back into bed, so that was another point checked off the list.

No school today. He clearly recalled having checked to make certain of that before he'd slid under the covers and being quite pleased to find that the school wouldn't open its doors again until tomorrow. He couldn't recall why off the top of his head, but he didn't care, either. Maybe they were remodeling. Maybe Vector had blown something up and they needed to fix it. Regardless, that too wasn't a reason to get out of bed.

That covered everything he could think of for having to get up and since they all came up negative, he curled a little tighter around himself, breathed out a long, satisfied sigh, and screwed his eyes even more tightly shut, determined not to open them again until he _wanted_ to get up.

Fingers brushed against the back of his neck. Warm and hardened with resumed practice of the blade, and oh so familiar. They still weren't enough to get him out of bed, but he leaned his head back toward the welcome presence there.

"I'm sleeping," he murmured. "You should be too."

Durbe's chuckle was soft in his ears. "I'd call you lazy if I didn't know you better."

"I'm sleeping!" Nasch insisted, wriggling back against Durbe. This might end up a reason to be awake but still there wasn't any reason to actually get out of bed yet. He did, however, turn his head just enough so if he cracked one eye open, he could see Durbe looking back at him.

He also cracked his eye just that much, because he knew the smile Durbe would have on his lips, and making that one of the first things he saw in the morning did far more to get him in a good mood than three cups of tea could have. He knew; he'd tested it once.

Durbe lay against him, sleek and warm and his, as much as Nasch was _his_ , and for the life of him Nasch couldn't think of any thing he'd do to change his life for the better.

Well, aside from Vector finding his own place and he wasn't even sure about that. Like it or not, Vector was a Barian, and that meant he was Nasch's responsibility. One thing Nasch had never done was shirk a responsibility. Even one as annoying as Vector.

Though thankfully Vector _had_ toned matters down to some degree, and seemed actually to be trying to be a better person. Either that or he was hiding how much he really wanted to kill them all and waiting for the day when their guards dropped and he could do it. Nasch didn't put anything past Vector.

But when it came to choosing between the Barian's White Shield or the Gray Annoyance to think about in the morning, Nasch knew exactly which one he wanted to think about the most. He tilted his head toward Durbe.

"There's nothing to get up for until breakfast." He lifted his head enough to catch a glimpse of the clock. "And that's not for another thirty minutes. Or more." They could always have something late.

Durbe dropped a small kiss on Nasch's shoulders. "I know. I didn't say I wanted to get up."

Oh, that was true. He hadn't, had he? Nasch wriggled closer, moving over to press a kiss of his own on Durbe. Not on the shoulders, though. There were few people he felt comfortable enough with to be let his guard down _this_ thoroughly, and he counted himself lucky every day that Durbe was one of them.

"So you want to wake up after all?" Durbe teased, strong hands going down Nasch's shoulders to his arms and sliding across toward his chest.

"You could give me something to wake up for," Nasch returned, his own hands charting a path far more downward than Durbe's. Truth to be told, he was already completely awake, because there was no way at all that he'd touch Durbe like this with anything but full wakefulness. He deserved nothing less than Nasch's full attention.

The smile that curved Durbe's lips told him their thoughts marched in tandem with one another. It wasn't the first time and Nasch knew quite well that it wouldn't be the last, either. They moved closer to one another, lips and hands saying what mere words stood no chance to convey.

Making love as humans held a special kind of newness to them. They'd done it in their first life together, having known nothing else, and they did it now, this time with the experience of being Barians between those lives.

Making love as Barians was not only more immediate, but they'd done so much more often than they had as humans, since they'd spent far more time as creatures of stone and spirit than of flesh and blood.

But being both new and skilled at this meant only that they could learn all over again what was likely to please the other and Nasch thoroughly enjoyed teaching himself what he could do with Durbe, and learning from Durbe what they could do with one another. He knew how well Durbe felt the same.

Before they'd gotten the soundproofing up, more than one of the others had complained about how loud they could be. Nasch still didn't think Vector had any room to complain but that had encouraged them to get it done that much faster. They could indulge themselves as much as they wanted and not worry about disturbing anyone else.

Some people wondered about the wisdom of having all the bedrooms soundproofed, pointing out the richness of the mansion and how thieves might want to take a try at robbing it while they couldn't hear anything outside of their rooms.

"That's one of the things we keep Vector around for," Nasch pointed out. When it came to being sneaky, there were few who were better at it than Vector, and the one time someone _had_ tried to break in, Vector made them regret it.

Not only was Vector very sneaky and very good at making people regret having met him, he also was very good at making people regret interrupting whatever time with Mizael he could persuade the blond into.

Once again Nasch put those thoughts out of mind; they weren't at all conductive to how he wanted to spend this lazy, passion-filled morning. He wriggled closer so he could nip from Durbe's shoulder up to his neck, while his hands still enjoyed himself farther down. One of the first places he'd found out that hadn't changed regardless of lifetime or form was a particular place on Durbe's neck. Touch of fingers or lips there and Durbe, the Barian's White Shield, fierce warrior and passionate lover, became little more than putty in his king's hands.

Nasch liked that. It made up for how Durbe could touch his own side and not a single coherent thought remained in his head.

The spot that Durbe's fingers were brushing against _right now_.

There really wasn't that much coherency in either of them as the time ticked by unnoticed and the soundproofing work and the shielding spells they'd all worked on for those times when the soundproofing wasn't good enough were all tested to the limits.

When they'd finished and could begin to grasp the actual meaning of words once more, Durbe reached up to move a lock of hair out of Nasch's eyes.

"Good morning," he said at last with a warm smile. "Did you sleep well?"

Nasch pressed his head against Durbe's sweaty skin. He wanted a shower. He _needed_ a shower. "Yes." He knew what words were again, but he didn't feel a great need to use them right now. "Shower." That would be good enough. Waking up with Durbe outranked tea or coffee or anything in his opinion but after he woke up with Durbe, he would still need one of those in order to reasonably function and interact with other people.

Durbe held him just a little closer and Nasch didn't complain at all. What did he have to complain about? Their wars were over. Even Vector was tamed, though Merag still had plenty of plans to exact revenge for everything he'd done. No one argued her right to do so and Alit wanted in on a few of those. No one argued his right for that either. Vector's opinion on the matter hadn't been asked.

All in all, Nasch knew that something would happen one day to disturb this fragile peace. But whatever it was, he and the ones he cared the most about would be there to put things back the way they belonged, and no matter what, he and Durbe would be together. It was as inevitable as him being born twins with Merag or as Yuuma being too cheerful for his own good.

There were worse ways to spend his life. Nasch saw no reason to let it worry him.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.

 **Note 2:** Their next life will be... well, you'll see.


	13. Fifth-1

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Story:** Countdown: Chapter 13: Fifth-1  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,726||story: 21,601  
 **Genre:** Romance|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Diversity Challenge, J14, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Pairing Diversity Challenge, 09, eternal; Catch the Barian Emperors: Nasch  
 **Summary:** In this world, a counter on one's arm marks the time until soulmates meet one another for the first time. Nasch and Durbe have met one another for the first time many times.

* * *

Nasch flexed his wrists again, trying to find some sort of give in the manacles. Unfortunately, exactly as had happened the last half-dozen times or so that he'd tried this, there was none. His captors, whoever they were, knew how to keep him chained. That wasn't usual, not with his strength. And his other advantages, none of which seemed to be working at the moment.

He suspected that had something to do with the faint glow he could see around the corners of the doorway off to the left. It was the _only_ thing he could see in this room, since it, and he, were being kept in complete darkness. He wondered if they even knew the glow were there at all, or couldn't turn it off without releasing his powers. They didn't seem very inclined toward releasing him any time soon.

 _Damn it!_ He'd already made up his mind on what he was going to do to these kidnappers once he had the chance. But right now, he _didn't_ have that chance, and he seethed in frustration.

Why now? Why now of _all_ times, when he'd been less than a day away from his counter expiring and a meeting that he'd waited all of his life for?

That wasn't very unusual; everyone waited until the time ran out to meet their soulmate. But in the last few days, a strong feeling rose in him that this meeting would bring _more_ than someone he was tied to and who would be tied to him. He didn't know what more, and Merag hadn't given any indication of feeling the same thing.

Granted, since she'd met Kotori six months earlier, she hadn't been anything but annoyingly smug about soulmates. And noisy as well. They'd already had to shore up the soundproofing spells three times.

 _And she says when I find mine, we'll have to do it even more._ Nasch didn't believe her. Mostly because her magic was inclined toward the mastery of ice and snow and ocean water, not visions of the future.

He tried to get a little more comfortable, if nothing else. The chains kept him from doing that as well. In all of his life, he couldn't remember having been kept so expertly.

A vague image, little more than a thought, of tight bonds all around him that weren't steel but something even more revolting, something that sapped at his strength in a way that these didn't, flickered through his mind. They faded away a moment later, and he had no idea of what to even think of them. This was hardly the first time in his life such strange images had occurred, and as annoying as it was, he thought he would have them again.

Some of them weren't so bad. Some of them didn't even fade at all, but remained tucked away in the pleasant portions of his mind. A view of a city that looked nothing at all like his, but his heart called it home nevertheless. A castle that _did_ look like his own, but wasn't, not quite.

A face, a man's face, with such strength and wonder to it that Nasch's heart skipped a beat at the mere memory of it. That was a sight or a memory or a vision that he'd had for as far back as he could remember, always coming whenever he was too worried about something, and he could never quite be as worried after it. That face stayed with him and he hoped that somehow this was a face he'd see in person one day.

Today would be good for that. Today would be a very good day to see any face that wasn't one of his captors. They did turn up now and then, sometimes with food and sometimes not, demanding that he do what they wanted him to. They hadn't _said_ what they wanted, but from the sneers on their faces and the fact they'd kidnapped him and chained him up, he knew he didn't want to do anything for them.

He knew what they could do for him, however, and since they were neither releasing him nor conveniently dropping over dead, he counted them among the rudest of the rude. Even Vector wasn't _that_ bad. Mostly.

Nasch tilted his head back and breathed a long breath. He didn't yet feel up to testing the bonds again. He did not let the hope of wearing them out fade away. Instead, he let his thoughts drift, and without much surprise found himself considering his soulmate countdown.

He didn't know how much time remained on it anymore. They'd knocked him out when he still had several hours to go, and that time had to have passed by now. The way his arms were held kept him from getting a look at that part of his wrist.

There was a warmth growing there, he realized without warning. A slow and steady rising, something he could not remember having felt before, but it was familiar all the same. He'd heard about how this happened when soulmates grew near one another, before that first touch and their marks appeared. It was something of a warning, before the actual meeting happened, so that one wouldn't miss it when the countdown zeroed out.

So his soulmate _was_ in the area. Nasch held back a shiver at the thought that whoever it was could be involved with his kidnappers. No, that could not be it. His soulmate would never be like that, no matter the cost.

But that did not mean a rescue was in the offing, either. It could be that his captors were looking to take other people and force them to work for them. Or try to, at least. They hadn't had any luck with Nasch.

To see his soulmate in this kind of distress as well...Nasch bared his teeth and snapped the air savagely. They'd called him 'Shark' when he was younger, for his ferocity in battles of all kinds. For the sake of his soulmate, he would be Shark once more.

Noise came from outside of the cell, voices raised in languages he didn't understand. He recognized them; some of his jailers had used them during his time here. But he didn't know what they were saying.

What he did know was that they sounded _terrified_. And that he _liked_ that they sounded terrified. His only regret was that he wasn't doing it himself.

More voices, and these in a language that he understood, right outside of the door.

"It's a warding spell. It keeps any supernatural powers from being used inside of its confines." That voice. He didn't know it, couldn't place it, and yet it sang along his veins as surely as his own blood did.

"Step out of the way." That voice he knew: Merag. And she did not sound happy. Not that he was surprised; he wouldn't have been if she'd been in here either.

More footsteps, moving backwards now, more than just two. Who was out there with her? Who had come?

Merag's voice rose, chanting a spell he recognized after a moment as something to dispel magical power. A thunderous crack echoed, the sound of her staff hitting the floor, and the glow around the door vanished.

So did the door, a heartbeat later, smashed in by an armored fist. Someone stepped in through the rubble and looked at him.

Nasch could not see the counter on his arm but the heat on his wrist flared and the stranger lifted his visor, revealing a pair of warm gray eyes that sang and whispered and cheered.

"Greetings, Highness," the stranger knight spoke in the voice that he'd heard before. "Would you like to get out of here?"

"More than you can imagine." He could feel his own strength swelling in his limbs again and with a single wrench of his arms he pulled the chains away from the wall. "Who are you?" Because he knew and he did not know and he _wanted_ to know because he'd _waited so long_ and he didn't want to wait any longer.

The knight started to reach for him, before pulling back, his eyes falling to his own wrist, hidden behind his armor.

"Sir Durbe, Highness. I would say more, but now is not a place for exchanging stories."

No, it wasn't, not at all, and Nasch would far prefer to hear this tale in his own castle, with a cup of something hot in his hands and a good meal in his stomach, and his sister by his side, and looking at a face he felt that he'd know, even if he'd never seen this Sir Durbe before.

Durbe exited the broken cell before Nasch did, looking around quickly and nodding before gesturing to Nasch to come along. The prince's eyes fell on Merag as soon as he was out of there and she threw her arms around him, squeezing, before moving back and smacking him on the arm.

"What did you go and get yourself kidnapped for, idiot? Do you know what I had to do to get you back?" She glowered at him angrily. "I had to talk to _Vector_ , that's what I had to do!"

Nasch blinked a few times at that. This was a story he wanted to hear as much as he did Durbe's. "Let's get out of here so you can tell me more."

He looked back at the knight. "Would you come along, Sir Durbe?" Now that their eyes had met, now that he could see his counter was at zero, he knew exactly who Durbe was, though he still didn't know how he knew.

 _Something else to find out._ And he would do just that.

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	14. Fifth-2

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Story:** Countdown: Chapter 14: Fifth-2  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,631||story: 23,232  
 **Genre:** Romance|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Diversity Challenge, J14, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Pairing Diversity Challenge, 09, eternal; Catch the Barian Emperors: Nasch  
 **Summary:** In this world, a counter on one's arm marks the time until soulmates meet one another for the first time. Nasch and Durbe have met one another for the first time many times.

* * *

From the moment he set foot into the royal city, Durbe knew something was wrong. He'd never been there in his life that he could recall, but he knew it nevertheless. The air sung with a hint of danger and not at all the sort that a brave knight could meet with weapons at the ready. This was danger to someone else.

Without questioning his instincts, Durbe made his way to the palace, knowing that was where he should be. Introducing himself as a knight come to pledge allegiance to King Nasch – which was nothing more nor less than the truth – he entered and searched for the crowned head whose features had haunted his dreams all of his life.

What he found was a thoroughly annoyed Princess-Priestess Merag, standing in front of a ginger-haired person, cold fury radiating outward from her. It wasn't a mere metaphor either; everything in the receiving chamber held a thin coat of frost from her rage. A woman stood nearby, bundled up in a warm jacket that would not see frequent use in these warm climes, but attempting also to soothe the princess.

"He won't be able to help if you keep on trying to freeze him, Highness," the woman said as Durbe stood in the doorway. "Please, let him talk." Her eyes darkened as she stepped forward to rest a hand on Merag's shoulder. "I don't like it either but he may be our only chance."

Merag folded her arms over her chest and glared harder. "I suppose you're right, Kotori. But I don't have to like it."

The ginger laughed, a hint of smugness to the tone. "But if you don't talk to me, what are the odds you'll ever find him?" He looked even more smug. "For that matter, what are the odds that I will talk to you? He's never been my 'bosom buddy'. If he never returned, then what would I care?"

"If Nasch comes to any harm because of you failing to help us, then I'll -" Merag didn't have a chance to finish her sentence. Durbe stepped into the room and a heartbeat later had his sword pointed at the smug one's throat.

"I know not who you are, but if King Nasch is harmed due to your actions or inactions, then the princess will not _need_ to do anything to you because I will already have done so." Every word Durbe spoke could be heard edged with fury and laced with conviction.

He had never met King Nasch. He did not know him. But the thought of harm coming to him at all set his veins aflame with rage that would not die.

The ginger looked at him down the span of his blade, then rested one hand on it. Power flared and for a moment, his hand was not mortal flesh but cold stone and he shoved the sword aside.

"Well, _you_ took your time getting here, good knight. I thought you'd be here ages ago." He brushed himself off a little. "I suppose I'd better help, then. Before the _rest_ of the merry crew shows up and starts demanding my head for things I never did."

Durbe stepped back, not taking his eyes off of him for more than the few seconds it took to look at Princess Merag. "I apologize for my rudeness, Highness, but if your brother is in danger, then anything must be done to help him."

Merag looked him up and down, a small smile hovering over her lips. "I quite agree, Sir Durbe. Even to speaking to people I'd rather have not seen again for another thousand lifetimes."

He hadn't given his name. He didn't expect the princess to know the name of every wandering knight. Yes, she was a priestess as well, but why would any God give _his_ name to them? It was almost as much of a mystery as to why his veins lit with fire and fury at the thought of Nasch being in any kind of danger without him by his side.

She faced the stranger head on. "What do you know, Vector?"

"I know in intimate detail how loud Mizael can scream when I'm with him, and provide examples." Vector smirked back at her. "But since that's not what you're really asking me, what I know is that your precious twin is being held down in an abandoned home in one of the well to do districts. Rumor has it that the place is haunted, and the people who took him expected that to keep anyone from investigating any strange noises while they're working him over."

Durbe managed to keep his temper reined in, though he would never have admitted how much trouble it took him. "Do you know where it is?"

"Of course I do. Knowing things is what I _do_." Vector's smirk shone bright and smug as the sun itself. "And I suppose you're going to want me to lead you there."

Merag's grip on her staff tightened. "Nasch is _your_ king as well. You know that."

"Yes, but I don't _like him_ ," Vector said, in a tone that read of one who has said that many times before. Then he let out a long sigh. "But I suppose I'd better."

Durbe wanted time to question all of this, to find out what he'd missed that would make all of this make sense. What he received was just time enough to head to find Mach and wait for the rest of the rescue party to form up.

Said party consisted of Merag, Vector, himself, and a blond dragon tamer by the name of Mizael, along with a small contingent of guards. Durbe learned in the first few minutes that Mizael not only was an old friend to Merag and Nasch, but soulmate to Vector, hence his comment about 'screaming'.

"You have my sympathies," Durbe told him as soon as he knew. Mizael shrugged.

"I get that a lot. But we've been bonded since we were thirteen, and I've gotten used to him by now. I won't say he has a _good_ side but he can be manageable, at least."

Durbe decided that came under the heading of 'things he didn't especially want to know that badly'.

The group headed out, cloaked in illusions by Merag's power, so that their targets didn't know they were on the way. Durbe almost wished that they did, so that Nasch's captors would flee and leave him behind.

Not that he feared battle by any means, but he would much prefer a rescue where he could appear before his king without the blood and dirt and weariness of combat on him.

Only a few guards stood in inconspicuous places near the abandoned home. Vector moved forward without hesitation to deal with them, in ways that Durbe could not see and didn't want to. While he understood the necessity of this kind of action, he didn't have to like it.

"None of them raised an alarm," Vector reported as he strolled back into sight, cleaning off his knife. "Are you ready to go or should we just sit around here some more?"

Merag moved forward, Durbe at her right hand, without giving him an answer. He chuckled long and low and followed after them. Durbe kept one hand on his sword's hilt, ready to strike at a moment's notice should anyone stand against them.

Getting inside the house once more required Vector's help. Durbe did not like that they needed him so much, but there was little he could do about the situation. Regardless, something about him unsettled Durbe and he thought it had something to do with how Vector and Merag both seemed to know him without him introducing himself.

What's more, he fell into their company without a moment's hesitation, as angered over Nasch's abduction as if he'd known the man his entire life. From the way he caught Mizael or Merag looking at him from time to time, he wanted this rescue done as quickly as possible, just to ask them what they knew that he didn't.

He also wanted to know why his arm kept warming the way that it did. He knew it signaled the nearness of his soulmate, and the time had almost arrived, but how could it be now, when he was focused on rescuing his king? He had no time to meet someone else now.

He spared a few moments to look around, wondering if somehow it could be some guard or kidnapper. That could not be so, he didn't want it to be no matter what, and no matter whose eyes he met, none of them gave him that undeniable feeling of _the one_.

There weren't that many people to meet along the way and those who they did encounter fell to one of the blades among them or to Merag's magic.

"There." Merag gestured toward a door surrounded by a pale glow. "That's where he is."

Durbe stepped closer to it and examined it. He was no sorcerer, but he'd seen this kind of work before. "It's a warding spell. It keeps any supernatural powers from being used inside its confines."

His arm all but burned. The moment of the meeting was so close. He slipped his gauntlet down a little as Merag stepped up to deal with the door and his breath caught in his lungs as he realized it would only be another few moments.

The span of time it would take for the door to be destroyed and the prince within set free.

 _It's him._ It could be no one else. Durbe's heart sped up despite all of his efforts to stop it. One single word replaced all the rest in his mind and heart.

 _Finally._

 **To Be Continued**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


	15. Fifth-3

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Story:** Countdown: Chapter 15: Fifth-3  
 **Romance:** Nasch x Durbe/Durbe x Nasch  
 **Word Count:** chapter: 1,632||story: 24,864  
 **Genre:** Romance|| **Rated:** PG-13  
 **Challenge:** Diversity Challenge, J14, a multichap with chapters between 1000-2000 words; Pairing Diversity Challenge, 09, eternal; Catch the Barian Emperors: Nasch  
 **Summary:** In this world, a counter on one's arm marks the time until soulmates meet one another for the first time. Nasch and Durbe have met one another for the first time many times.

* * *

Somehow, Durbe and Nasch managed not to touch one another in any way during the trip back to the palace. They both ignored the snide comments that came from Vector, mostly because Durbe was too busy with trying to figure out why he wanted more than anything to just kiss Nasch and never let him go. Yes, they were soulmates. They both acknowledged it. But this felt like something more than that. Something he couldn't put his finger on, but it was there all the same.

Nasch kept quiet because he knew perfectly well Mizael would unleash his own retaliation on Vector once the two of them were alone, and he didn't want to interfere in the blond's plans. This was hardly the first time this had happened.

But Durbe. Durbe was there. Nasch hadn't known his name before their eyes met but it rose to his lips as easily as his own would and his arm warmed and the counters were at zero and all it would take was one touch that they both refused to make, not now, not yet.

"Well, now that you're back, I'm out of here," Vector declared once they were past the palace gates. "Do feel free not to bother me again unless the world's coming to an end. Unless I'm the one doing it, of course."

Mizael grabbed him by the back of the neck and bowed his head to Nasch and Merag. "If you need me, you know how to contact me." He glanced toward Durbe, a small smile twitching at the corner of his lips. "Good to see you again, too."

He gave no further explanation for that, but hurried out of there, Vector in tow. Durbe followed with his eyes before he turned toward the other two.

"I don't understand."

"You will," Nasch promised, though he himself didn't very much either. He just hoped that it was true.

One long wash, change of clothes, and a quiet meal later, the three of them settled into a room in the royal suite, Kotori joining them. Durbe and Nasch didn't take their eyes off one another the whole while. Merag tapped her foot.

"If you two can't see it, or are just being too _proper_ , then let me tell you: you are soulmates. You know it, I know it, Mizael knows it, _Vector_ knows it. Touch, get your bond back, and let's move on to what'll happen next."

Durbe sputtered, nothing at all coherent, his cheeks flaming red. Nasch wasn't much better. Kotori tried hard not to laugh and didn't have a lot of success at it. Merag simply waited until they were all done.

"Well?" She could pack a lot of annoyance into that one word. Durbe and Nasch looked at one another.

"She may be right?" Nasch said at last, ignoring the muttered 'maybe' that came from his twin. He glanced at the zeroed out counter, then held his hand out to Durbe.

Durbe looked at his own, shrugged for a second, and then reached forward to take Nasch's hand.

Neither of them expected anything very flashy. The counter to vanish and be replaced by the marks, of course. The warmth going all through them wasn't surprising at all.

What surprised them more than anything else was the sudden rush of memories surging through them, memories of other lifetimes, other first meetings, other times they'd been them and their hands had touched like this.

 _A sunlit meadow they could find their way back to now. A prince and a knight, together at last._

A world of red shadows and scarlet towers, a world they'd spent eons in, the world that the power they possessed now came from.

A crumbling building, when Durbe seized Nasch's arm and brought them together in more ways than one.

A street corner in a place they also knew now, could go there if they desired, surrounded by their friends.

Durbe's mouth dropped open and he tried to speak, but nothing came out. He knew who he was. Not just Sir Durbe, not just a loyal knight of the kingdom, but a reborn Barian, with the power of that world flowing in his veins, and soulmate and beloved to the true leader of the Barians, who sat across from him now, hand in hand, and gaining the same memories, from his own perspective.

Nasch swallowed. He'd known he was a Barian all of his life, of course. He and Merag both had, and known that there were others as well, though the proper memories of each one came only when they met them.

For some reason the universe liked having them meet Vector first. That hadn't been fun at all.

But to have all of those memories of Durbe there, of the one he'd loved longer than he could comprehend, put everything that he'd thought was out of place in his life _in_ place.

Thinking was for other people. Nasch pulled Durbe over to him and pressed their lips together with every scrap of passion that he had in him, saved up for over a hundred years, ever since the last time they'd kissed one another.

Nasch thought he heard something in Merag's voice, something along the lines of 'it's about time'. He paid no attention to it. What he wanted to be aware of was simply the feel of Durbe in his arms, Durbe's lips on his, Durbe's arms around him, and anything else at all to do with Durbe.

Merag did clear her throat a bit more importantly than usual. "You two have a lot to discuss, I know. The soundproofing in your room is up to par, brother."

It took him only a few moments to work through that, but by then, she and Kotori were both gone. He made a quick mental note to remind them of what they'd been like when they'd met one another again and then turned his full attention back to Durbe where it belonged.

"Will you stay here?" The silliest question he could think of to ask, but it had to be asked.

Durbe leaned in to nibble softly along Nasch's lips. "There's nowhere else that I would ever want to be. I came here looking for you." He smiled, a light laugh escaping his lips. "I came to pledge my service to you, in all honesty, but I don't think I have to anymore."

Indeed he didn't. It was taken as given, and given with all of Durbe's heart. They might do something to make it _official_ , just for the sake of the kingdom itself, but other than that, Durbe was a Barian. His loyalty remained with his king, no matter what.

Nasch leaned up to kiss him again, then rose to his feet. "We do have a lot to talk about." Whether or not this 'talking' would be with the use of words or not didn't matter. There was just too much for them to know about one another all over again.

Durbe joined him, fingers twining about Nasch's. "I look forward to all of it." He could not at all imagine a better way to end the day than with Nasch safely rescued and their bond restored to its full strength. There probably _were_ better ways but he couldn't think of any of them right now.

Nasch guided him into the deeper reaches of the royal suite, which consisted of four sets of rooms. He gestured to one of them as they headed down the hallway.

"That's Merag's. The one on the other side of the hall is Kotori's. They usually share Merag's but when we built this place, we decided that it would be a good idea for our soulmates to have separate accommodations."

That didn't surprise Durbe. Personal space, time to oneself; soulmates were not obliged to spend every waking moment with one another.

Nasch gestured again. "That's mine there." He glanced toward the door on the opposite side, then toward Durbe.

"Mine?" Durbe asked, one eyebrow going ever so slightly upward. Nasch nodded at once.

"Let us know how you want it decorated. Anything you want is yours, that's within our power."

Durbe nodded; he would like to look at it, but he wanted to see Nasch's rooms more than anything else right now. Nasch felt the same way, since his door opened as soon as they stood in front of it.

On the other side spread out stood a smallish receiving room; the size suited Nasch, who had never been the most sociable of people. He pulled Durbe over to a comfortable couch, the two of them settling down on it, arms wrapping around one another as they'd done far more times than either of them could conveniently count since the first time they'd crossed paths all those eons earlier.

"I love you," Nasch whispered into Durbe's ear. He'd said it before, but each time sent a delightful thrill all through the knight. He leaned in closer, tightening his own grip around his prince.

"I love you." He could say it forever and never get enough of it, saying it or hearing it.

They rested their heads against one another, slowly adjusting to the fact that once again they _were_ together, that the universe had arranged itself so they would be together for yet another lifetime. Nasch breathed deeper against him. He'd had a longer day than he'd wanted to admit, and his limbs trembled with weariness. Bathing and eating had staved it off until now, but not for much longer.

Durbe was not one to miss when Nasch needed to rest. He pressed the other gently against the back of the couch. "Sleep," he murmured in his softest voice. "I'll be here when you wake up."

And he was. Every time.

 **The End**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the story. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.

 **Note:** Just to sum it up, all the 'ships in this fic are: Nasch/Ryouga x Durbe, Merag/Rio x Kotori, Mizael x Vector, V/Chris x Kaito, Gilag x Sanagi, and Alit x III/Michael x Yuuma. Also, I am curious to see who would like to know how Vector and Mizael work their soulmate relationship out.


End file.
